By Jill Fraser
MELBOURNE, Australia
An investigation into Australia’s treatment of refugees and asylum seekers detained and constrained on an island in the South Pacific Ocean alleges a level of “sustained abuse” and “neglect” that is “driving women, children and men to breaking point”.
These claims are made in a damning statement, released Wednesday jointly by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) following an investigation on Nauru, where Australia has been transferring “illegal” asylum seekers (families with children, unaccompanied children, and single men and women who arrive by boat) since September 2012.
Anna Neistat, a senior director for research at Amnesty International who conducted the investigation, described Australia’s policy of exiling asylum seekers who arrive by boat as “cruel in the extreme”.
“What exists is an absolute state of despair, I was shocked at the level of systematic abuse,” she told Anadolu Agency of the conditions faced by around 1,200 asylum seekers.
Both rights groups claim that refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru “routinely face neglect by health workers and other service providers who have been hired by the Australian government, as well as frequent unpunished assaults by local Nauruans”.
"One of the most shocking things was the state of mental health and rates of attempted suicide -- every other person I spoke to had attempted or thought about killing themselves, including a nine year old boy," Neistat told Anadolu Agency.
HRW and Amnesty International said many asylum seekers had been beaten and robbed and women who were interviewed said they would not go out alone, with interviewees claiming that local police made little or no effort to investigate attacks against them.
The statement alleged that children of asylum seekers who attend local schools described frequent bullying and harassment from Nauruan students, who tell them to go back to their home countries.
Many have stopped attending classes altogether, including a 15-year-old girl who said Nauruan children constantly tried to remove her headscarf.
The statement reveals that over a period of 12 days in July, two researchers -- one each from Amnesty and HRW -- penetrated the secrecy surrounding the Australian government’s asylum seeker policy on Nauru.
Under the Australian Border Force Act, it is a criminal offence for anyone working in detention centers to reveal details of their job and most journalists are refused permission to visit the centers.
The statement claims that the Amnesty and HRW researchers entered Nauru legally. An Amnesty spokesperson wouldn’t reveal any further details to Anadolu Agency.
The researchers interviewed 84 refugees and asylum seekers from Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Bangladesh, Kuwait, and Afghanistan, including stateless Kurds who had been living in Iran or Iraq.
Among them were 29 women, five girls and four boys.
Also interviewed were several service providers, who agreed to share information despite risking prosecution for providing information.
Neistat told Anadolu Agency that she “wasn't prepared for the wall of secrecy that exists” or that “no one outside of Australia knows about what's going on”.
“The fact that workers are sworn to secrecy is outrageous -- I haven't seen that anywhere else -- not Russia, China, Syria.
The statement maintains that refugees and asylum seekers “endure unnecessary delays and at times denial of medical care, even for life-threatening conditions”.
“Many have dire mental health problems and suffer overwhelming despair-- self-harm and suicide attempts are frequent. All face prolonged uncertainty about their future,” it said.
Michael Bochenek, senior counsel on children’s rights at HRW, who conducted the investigation on the island said, “Australia’s atrocious treatment of the refugees on Nauru over the past three years has taken an enormous toll on their well-being.”
The statement claims
that refugees and asylum seekers interviewed referred to long delays on seeing specialists for serious conditions or being transferred to medical facilities outside Nauru for care not available there.
When the rights groups put claims of poor care to International Health and Medical Services, the company hired by the Australian government to provide medical services on Nauru, senior staff denied them.
Anadolu Agency sought a response from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.
“There was no consultation with the Department from Amnesty International in preparation of this report,” a spokesperson said. “The Department therefore has had no opportunity to inform itself of these claims and would strongly encourage Amnesty International contact the Department before airing allegations of this kind.”
