Pope honours asylum seeker advocate

The
Catholic Weekly
Online

Sydney
14 March 2004

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Pope honours asylum seeker advocate

Dale West and a young refugee friend

Pope John Paul II has honoured Dale West, an outspoken advocate for the welfare of asylum seekers, with a papal award because of his compassionate and tireless fight for a “fair go” for detainees.

Dale, the director of Centacare in Adelaide and Port Pirie, will receive the Venerable Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice.

The award recognises his efforts which removed the cloak of secrecy from conditions at the now defunct Woomera Detention Centre, brought the plight of the detainees into the public arena and gave them a voice for the first time.

Dale first spoke out in 2000 following information about the suffering of detainees at Woomera, where 1500 detainees were kept in a detention centre which had been hastily designed and built for just 800.

He gave up to 70 media interviews daily, nationally and internationally, at the height of the controversy.

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