Women who have been victims of sexual violence and are currently in immigration detention are being housed dangerously close to male sex offenders. This proximity puts them at risk of facing harassment and retraumatization.
In a damning report released on Wednesday, the Australian Human Rights Commission documented women being cat-called and threatened.
Reports suggest that some female detainees have been bribed by men from a nearby compound to physically assault other women. Shockingly, these incidents have been unfolding right under the noses of security guards at Sydney’s Villawood center.
The Human Rights Commission has expressed grave concerns over the situation. Many of the women in detention have survived sexual and physical violence at the hands of men, yet they are being kept in a building that is only separated by a fence from male offenders at the high-security facility.
‘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 paedophiles … 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.
They 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.
 There are 50 female detainees nationwide, with most held in Villawood (pictured)
Another woman held at Villawood expressed discomfort at the lack of privacy from male detainees.
‘They are always looking,’ she said.
Even commission staff who were inspecting the centre were not spared from being cat-called, a term used to describe a whistle or comment which is almost always sexual.
As well, one woman claimed ‘sometimes men pay women to beat each other up’.
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.’
Many female detainees were survivors of male sexual and physical violence and were placed in a building separated by a fence from offenders at the high-security detention facility
With only three centres to accommodate women, their children and families from other states are unable to visit regularly, which one woman described as gender discrimination.
Staffed mostly by men, the centres are also inhospitable because of how employees disregard the privacy of women detainees.
One woman recounted a room search in which male officers handled her bras and underwear.
‘I felt humiliated when the male officers searched through my things,’ she told commission staff.
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 commissioner said she was disappointed by the department’s response, which included pushing back against the suggestion to repurpose buildings in Villawood specifically for women, saying it did not meet operational needs.
Fullstop Australia 1800 385 578
Lifeline 13 11 14
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
