Women, abuse survivors held next to sex offenders at Villawood Immigration Detention Centre

Women in immigration detention who have experienced sexual violence are being held metres from male sex offenders, exposing them to harassment and trauma.

In a damning report released on Wednesday, the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) documented women being cat-called and threatened while held at a western Sydney detention centre.

Some female detainees were allegedly paid by men in a neighbouring compound to physically beat other women, all under the nose of security guards at Sydney’s Villawood Immigration Detention Centre.

The AHRC was extremely concerned that women detainees, many of whom were survivors of male sexual and physical violence, were being placed in a building separated only by a fence from men offenders at the high-security detention facility nearby.

“One of the most confronting and worrying aspects is the fence that separates the compound,” said one woman cited in the report.

“On the other side are sex offenders and pedophiles. They give drugs through the fence and taunt people.”

Fifty women are held in immigration detention nationwide, making up less than six per cent of the total detainee population, with most of them held in Villawood.

Most women in the centre are currently detained across two compounds, the latter introduced in February this year for what AHRC said was the “stability ad safety of the general female population”.

The women mainly come from New Zealand, Vietnam and China and either overstayed their visa, arrived illegally in Australia or had their visas cancelled after a criminal conviction.

Another woman held at Villawood expressed discomfort at the lack of privacy from male detainees, telling AHRC that men “are always looking” at them.

The report observed the lack of privacy screens across the fence line between the two compounds made it possible for men to “observe women” in outdoor areas and some shared accommodation spaces.

“The Commission was told that screening may jeopardise the integrity of the fence and that changes were subject to budgetary limitations,” the report read.

The unique needs of women in immigration detention were unrecognised and unmet, Commissioner Lorraine Finlay said.

“The fact there are fewer women in detention should not mean their human rights are diminished,” she said.

“In too many cases, addressing a woman’s needs appears to have been merely an afterthought from those in charge.

“From what women told us and what we saw, these oversights affect every facet of a woman’s life in detention and have potentially significant impacts on their health and safety.”

With only three detention centres to accommodate women, it means many detainees’ children and families are unable to visit regularly.

Women also recounted feeling “humiliated” by staff, mostly men, at the centres who also disregard their privacy.

The AHRC’s findings were released following a series of inspections across Australia’s immigration detention centres which hold women in April and May, including those in Perth and Melbourne.

Thirty one recommendations were made to the Department of Home Affairs to help improve conditions such as safer housing, gender-specific training for staff, enhanced access to health care, education and for closed detention to be used as a last resort.

The AHRC also recommended the government discontinue use of the two women’s compounds “as a matter of extreme priority, and for the safety and wellbeing of women” and instead house the women in a detached village on-site.

The commissioner said she was disappointed by the department’s response, which included pushing back against the suggestion to re-purpose buildings in Villawood specifically for women, saying it did not meet operational needs.

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