WOOMERA (Australia): Landing on Australia’s remote Ashmore Reef in an overcrowded Indonesian fishing boat after days at sea, Iranis Reza and Maryam thought they had found refuge after a tortuous journey through Asia. Nothing prepared them for their ordeal on arrival in Australia, where they were swiftly transferred to the controversial Woomera detention centre in the barren desert 475km north of Adelaide.

The plight of refugees at Australia’s biggest detention camp was spotlighted by a recent two-week hunger strike by more than 200 mainly Afghan refugees protesting against the months, if not years, it takes to process their applications.

A group of 11 teenagers also vowed to commit suicide en masse if it was not removed from the remote facility where detainees have tried to hang themselves or sewn their lips together with twists of wire and threads ripped from blankets.

Government-appointed negotiators brokered a deal at the end of January to end the latest in a series of often violent protests at Woomera.

But refugee lawyers say detainees remain frustrated and despondent at the isolated camp, home to more than 900 asylum seekers, and protests could easily flare again if promises to speed up the processing of asylum claims are not kept.

Detainees trapped in the barren camp are summoned over the tannoy by numbers, not names. They live in metal sheds known as “dongas,” divided into narrow rooms fitted with bunkbeds. There are no doors to the rooms, just flimsy curtains.

Temperatures soar to more than 40 degrees Cetigrade during the sweltering summer months but plummet during winter in the camp, located in a former rocket testing range the size of England.

A few jobs collecting camp rubbish, working in the kitchens or teaching pay minimal wages to detainees, some of whom worked as scientists or engineers in their home countries.

Some of the 236 children here have witnessed suicide attempts and self mutilation by refugees, and local residents say they often hear bloodcurdling screams coming from the centre.

“Detention has damaged children. They’ve been affected by tear gas, they’ve seen parents being assaulted during the riots. Water cannons have been fired on families in their compounds,” said Tirana Hassan, member of a legal support group for refugees.—Reuters