Doing Time on Christmas Island

While the media and skeptics go round and round over James Cameron’s new documentary claiming to have possibly found the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth, I came across an update on a massive detention installation that is being built on Christmas Island just off the coast of Australia.
A quick history lesson (and correct me if any of this is inaccurate) tells us that for centuries, Christmas has resisted settlement with its natural palisades and rugged coastal geography. After British and Dutch navigators charted the island in the early seventeenth century, it wasn’t until Christmas Day, the 25th of December in 1643 when it was named “Christmas Island” after Captain William Mynors of the East India Ship Company vessel, the Royal Mary, called it such upon his arrival there.
However, the island remained undockable for years despite multiple attempts, until finally in 1888 the British government annexed it and managed to establish a mining outpost there.
After bringing over laborers from China, Malaysia and Singapore, the Japanese eventually invaded the island in 1942, which resulted in the internment of the foreign miners until the end of WWII.


[Image: British military encampent during the bombing tests conducted on Christmas Island under 'Operation Grapple.']


[In 1957, the British government used the island for bomb testing, and successfully exploded their first hydrogen bomb there under a program detailed on this site, called ‘Operation Grapple.’ From the BBC, “It was almost certainly part of the thermo-nuclear weapons programme which was started in December 1954 to develop the megaton hydrogen bomb, which is as powerful as one million tons of TNT.“ Finally, in 1958 Australian representatives claimed the island under the Australian Indian Ocean Territories.

However, the internment of laborers during WWII would only mark the beginning of this island’s soon to be bright future in the bustling global detention market. Reading on, we are reminded that during the late 80’s and early 90’s Christmas Island was met heavily by boatloads of refugees mostly from nearby Indonesia. During 2001, Christmas Island received a large number of asylum seekers traveling by boat, most of them from the Middle East, intending to apply for asylum in Australia.
But, after the Norwegian cargo vessel MV Tampa rescued hundreds of people from the sinking refugee boat in international waters, the Australian government refused to let the ship dock in its territory. Soon an international fiasco had ignited between Australia, Norway, and Indonesia, and with roughly 450 asylum seekers (mostly from Afghanistan) stranded at sea, and so close to reaching the mainland, the Australian SAS took over and had them routed to Nauru Island (another major offshore detention island near Papua New Guinea) after the captain of the ship threatened to dump them on Christmas Island.


[Video: A clip from a movie documentary about Australia's detention policy entitled We Will Be Remembered For This.]

Since 2005 Australia’s Department of Immigration has been constructing an "Immigration Reception and Processing Centre." 2,400 km from Perth, 360 km from Jakarta and nearly 2000 km from Darwin, this deteniton complex is at the far end of the island which, according to this dispatch, is a narrow strip 24 km long and 7 km wide.
Keep in mind, as Angela tells us, “under Australian law it is possible to intern people extra-judicially (without trial or charge) and, since 2004, to do so indefinitely. Migration detention is, therefore, a wholly administrative matter.”
So just what exactly are they building out there in them pristine jungles?
Well, it turns out it’s not just some rinky dink detention outfit with some barbed-wire fencing and ramshackle barracks cliff-side. No, this is a $396 million tropical prison paradise. That’s right. For what the government refers to as a ‘deterrent to illegal immigration’, it is a state of the art 800-bed prison complex, with electric fences, movement detectors, hundreds of surveillance cameras, hidden microphones in the trees, the works.


[Image: "Camp Howard" - Australia's very own Guantanamo Bay on Christmas Island, Feb. 2007.]

“The camp on Christmas Island has CCTV linked to a RCR [Remote Control Room] so guards in Canberra can watch detainees around the clock.” And planners aren’t leaving any thing out for this rugged remote little island prison either. “Detainees will wear electronic ID tags or cards, identifying them wherever they are.” While the place crawls with guards wandering in between a perimeter of checkpoint cubicles, there is a hospital, operating theatre and visiting rooms, solitary cells, and even family units and a nursery. “Everything can be controlled remotely — doors, TV, radio.”


{Image: Floor plan for the Detention Facility at Christmas Island.]

In addition to developing this offshore island-chain barrier against migration, the Australian government has launched its border patrol ship, the Triton, dubbed the ‘prison ship’ by critics. This “98-metre trimaran” is said to be capable of detaining “30 people for up to a month" on board and is "armed with twin machine guns.”


[Image: The ACV Triton Australian Border Patrol Ship.]

While officially deployed to patrol and intercept illegal fisherman, others are more concerned what the Triton could mean for migrants stranded at sea already facing one of the most conservative immigration-intolerant nations in the world. One can only imagine the day when the oceans are dotted with naval networks of prison hulks patrolling the future migration routes at sea, routing floatable detention centers full of refugees through the militarized channels of the great detention archipelago; the nomadic fortress clenching it's powerful sea jaws down on all those who flee their native shores from persecution.
I’m not sure if the construction of Christmas Island's detention facility is complete yet or not, but so far 85 asylum seekers were recently sent their after being rescued near the island by the Australian navy. There was even talk of them being sent back to Sri Lanka via Indonesia and Nauru.
“Under Australia's Pacific Solution introduced in 2001” the Washington Post writes, “to deter asylum seekers and people smugglers, people who arrive illegally by boat can be sent to immigration detention in Papua New Guinea and the tiny South Pacific nation of Nauru while their claims are assessed.”


[Image: Sri Lankans asylum seekers are transported to Christmas Island from HMAS Success, which intercepted their boat last week. Photo: Kee Seng, The Age, 2007.}

However, by intercepting them and detaining them on Christmas Island, they never have legal recourse for applying to Australia for asylum since they have not technically met the mainland. The Migration Act stipulates refugees must reach the mainland to file a claim.
While the Australian government says it will not repatriate the refugees if there is evidence they will face persecution in their homeland Sri Lanka, officials have also been adamant about them never reaching the mainland.
Where does that leave them? Well, Christmas Island for now.

(spotted at del.icio.us/diasporas.)

Also, be sure to read Alex Trevi's take on The geography of displacement.