The Australian government has said it will allow a United Nations (UN) envoy to inspect its most controversial detention centre.
A spokesman for Foreign Minister Mr Alexander Downer said an envoy sent by the UN Human Rights Commissioner Mrs Mary Robinson would be allowed to visit the Woomera centre.
Earlier this month, Mrs Robinson met Mr Downer in Geneva to discuss the mandatory detention policy and during the meeting asked if a special envoy could visit Woomera.
"There are certainly human rights concerns, very serious human rights concerns that I would like to have clarified," Mr Robinson.
Last month, the Woomera camp saw a two-week hunger strike by more than 200 mainly Afghan refugees asylum seekers who were protesting conditions at the camp. They also demanded their asylum applications be processed more quickly.
Dozens of the hunger strikers sewed their lips together as part of the protest and one man leapt from a building on to a coil of razor wire, suffering severe cuts.
Australia incarcerates all illegal immigrants while their asylum applications are processed - which can take up to three years.
Human rights groups in Australia and across the world have condemned the policy and in particular the Woomera camp but Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, said Woomera is kept deliberately spartan to act as a deterrent to other would-be illegal immigrants.
PA