There can be few more gruesome forms of protest than sewing one's lips together with needle and thread. For detainees at the Woomera Detention Centre, the very loss of speech itself speaks volumes about their plight. It is a last desperate cry to be heard. As many as 60 detainees, including children as young as eight, stitched their lips together to protest against conditions inside and delays in processing their claims for refugee status, but the Australian Government isn't listening to them, and doesn't understand. "Behaviour of this sort will not, let me make this very clear, will not produce altered decisions," says Philip Ruddock, Immigration Minister. However, it seems that the conditions back in Afghanistan may not yet be suitable for asylum seekers to return to. "There's problems with shelter, food distributions, providing enough health care, treating the malnourished children, both severely and moderately malnourished, in feeding centres." David Curtis, executive director of Medecins Sans Frontieres tells us.

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