36 overseas students in detention - 紐澳

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,25784268-12332,00.html

36 overseas students in detention

Guy Healy, Higher education writer | July 15, 2009
Article from: The Australian

THIRTY-SIX overseas students, some as young as 18, are being held in
immigration detention for breaching study visa conditions.

The infringements include not passing subjects and poor attendance - although
the Immigration Department insists that none of the detained students was
locked up solely for failing to meet course requirements.

The Australian has established that 19 of those detained are aged between 18
and 21. The average period of detention is 81 days.

Critics of the detention system say the presence of so many students in
immigration custody shows that the Rudd government's policy of detention as a
last resort is not working.

Some 2646 overseas students have been detained since January 2001, government
figures reveal.

Most of the student visa holders being held are from China, but others come
from India and Pakistan - countries already sensitive about the treatment of
their student nationals in Australia.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship said student visa holders
currently in detention had posed an unacceptable risk to the community, or
had repeatedly refused to comply with visa conditions.

A student visa can be cancelled for a variety of reasons, including failure
to meet course requirements such as "passing subjects" and "attending class".

A department spokesperson said most of those in detention had overstayed
their visas. None had been locked up "simply for breaching attendance
requirements or failing to meet minimum course requirements", although these
could be factors in non-compliance with visa conditions.

Attacks on Indian students in Melbourne and Sydney have trained international
attention on the treatment of overseas students in Australia.

The Australian revealed yesterday that the $15 billion education export
industry was riven with scams and corruption mainly among unregulated agents
in India.

Bangladesh-born Motahar Hussein, 36, was detained for three years in Sydney's
Villawood immigration lock-up after missing an official immigration notice
because of what he says was a mix-up over access to his post box.

He is now a resident, but remains concerned that the "tools of the machine"
to potentially victimise some students endure in the immigration system.

Mr Hussein said he continued to have counselling for trauma arising from his
time in detention.

As for those who remained there, he said: "They will be depressed and highly
frustrated. They won't be able to comprehend that they have done anything
wrong by overstaying as the concept of detention doesn't occur in many Asian
societies."

Migration Institute of Australia chief executive Maurene Horder said Labor
had made detention more humane, but the number of student visa holders in
custody "suggests we may have a way to go".

"Some overstay deliberately or inadvertently, but for young people carried
away with lifestyle, their legal status is not paramount in their minds, and
we know they often don't have a high level of guardianship or parental
support," she said.

University of NSW immigration detention researcher Leanne Weber said it was
"disturbing" that young students were still being detained despite
recommendations from a Senate committee in 2006 urging more flexibility and
compassion, and ministerial directives restricting the use of detention.

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