Australia’s regime of cruelty has turned Nauru into an open-air prison – Amnesty International

The horrific conditions that refugees and asylum seekers are forced to endure by the Australian Government inside Australia’s now notorious offshore detention centre on Nauru are documented in a new report released by Amnesty International today.

The report ‘‘Island of Despair’ exposes the government of Australia’s policy of “processing” refugees and asylum-seekers on Nauru for what it is: a deliberate and systematic regime of neglect and cruelty.

Dr. Anna Neistat, traveled to Nauru and documented serious and ongoing human rights abuses happening to women, men and children, who had already been forced to flee their homes. The report provides a disturbing picture of Nauru as a place of extreme suffering where as well as being held in indefinite detention, physical and sexual abuse are rife, access to healthcare is grossly inadequate and mental illness is commonplace – including children and adults engaging in self-harm and attempted suicide.

“The government of Australia has isolated vulnerable women, men and children in a remote place which they cannot leave, with the specific intention that these people should suffer. And suffer they have – it has been devastating and in some cases, irreparable.” said Anna Neistat, Amnesty International’s Senior Crisis Director and author of the report.

Driven to the brink – an epidemic of self-harm
Nearly all of the people whom Amnesty International spoke to – including young children – on Nauru in July 2016 reported mental health issues of some kind. Almost all said that these problems began when they were transferred to Nauru.

“People are driven to the absolute brink, largely because they’re trapped on Nauru and are facing debilitating uncertainty about their future,” said Anna Neistat.

“A man told me about his pregnant wife who tried to hang herself because she couldn’t bear the thought of bringing another person into that world. I met children who had tried to kill themselves multiple times.”

Parents’ inability to protect their children is one of the many factors which exacerbates suffering of refugees and asylum seekers.

“Yasmin”, “Amir” and their young son “Darius” arrived on Nauru in 2013. In March 2015, when Darius was five years old, he was attacked in the centre by a guard, employed by a company hired by the Australian Government, who threw a rock at a group of children who he believed were misbehaving, and hit Darius in the face, chipping off his tooth. As far as the family could tell no action was taken to hold the guard accountable, despite the injury to a child. Amir described the heartbreak of watching his wife and son descend into mental illness following this event. Yasmin retreated from the world and has struggled to cope while Darius has developed what, according to his father, seems like autism, barely speaks and has nightmares and panic attacks.

Devastated, Amir said, “I have no hope. It’s end of time here. I can see my son and wife going down day by day.”

People have also been arrested for self-harming. Despite the fact that Nauru decriminalised suicide in May 2016, Amnesty International has received credible reports that people are still being jailed for threatening to or actually harming themselves.

Treatment of refugees on Nauru amounts to torture
Amnesty International found that the conditions to which refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru are subjected to amounts to torture.

The combination of refugees’ severe mental anguish, the intentional nature of the system, and the fact that the goal of offshore processing is to intimidate or coerce other refugees and asylum-seekers to achieve a specific outcome, means that Australia’s offshore processing regime fits the definition of torture under international law.

“The Australian Government’s policy is the exact opposite of what countries should be pursuing. It is a model that minimizes protection and maximises harm. The only direction in which Australia is leading the world on refugees is in a dangerous plunge to the bottom,” said Anna Neistat.

In 2013, New Zealand offered to take up to 150 people from Nauru, but Australia rejected the offer. More recently, Australia’s Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said he was happy for New Zealand to take refugees from Nauru if the deal was negotiated directly with Nauru authorities, however the New Zealand Government rejected the offer.

“These are human beings who deserve the very same things we all deserve – an education, a safe place to live and the ability to work – so they can build back their lives,” said Grant Bayldon, Executive Director of Amnesty International New Zealand.

“There’s no moral or rational reason why we don’t take these 150 refugees immediately,” said Bayldon. “The Australian Government has forced thousands of people to be trapped on the two remote Pacific Islands. They have set up a deliberately abusive and secretive system of detention. The fastest and fairest thing for Australia to do is to immediately bring all of those people on Nauru and Manus to Australia for processing and for refugees to be settled there.

“However if an appropriate third country, like New Zealand, is offering permanent settlement to refugees currently trapped on Nauru or Manus, the Australian government should allow people to accept such offers. We should resettle the 150 people as an emergency intake over and above our existing annual quota.”

The report comes as Amnesty International New Zealand launches its new Build Hope campaign, calling on the Australian Government to immediately close its offshore detention centres. The Australian Government must ensure refugees suffering in offshore detention are able to rebuild their lives and it’s within New Zealand’s power to help.