Call for the evacuation of asylum seekers on Manus and Nauru

Human Rights Watch claims that asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island must be immediately evacuated

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the implementation of the policy that all people who go to Australia by boat to apply for asylum are detained indefinitely on the island. 39, Manus Island and Nauru, Papua New Guinea. ] About 1,600 refugees and asylum seekers remain on the islands, including 123 children.

Human Rights Watch director Elaine Pearson said it was five years of suffering and politics had a devastating human cost

. Admittedly, the mental health conditions of the refugees have become far worse: many of these people have come to Manus and Nauru in good health, now suffer from depression, anxiety and, in some cases, statehood. post-traumatic stress disorder.

Elaine Pearson said that Australia should immediately transfer refugees to Australia or safe third countries.

She said that it was a crisis.

Five years of dispossession of people in misery and suffering on isolated islands in the Pacific. "

Meanwhile, twelve refugee deaths in Australian offshore detention are evidence of the abject failure of the policy, according to the Refugee Council of Australia." Said in the past five years At a cost of more than five billion Australian dollars, families were torn apart and more than 3,000 children and adults suffered tremendous mental and physical damage.

Other countries should not apply this policy of extreme cruelty that the Australian government celebrates as a "success", said the council.

Of the 12 people who died, the Iranian refugee Reza Barati was the first, beaten to death on the 39th. Manus Island in 2014 by prison guards.Others died due to inadequate health care or suicide.

These are brave and resilient people who escaped from conflict and persecution only for to be broken by Australia, suicide where health professionals have declared a mental health crisis.

Paul Stevenson, a psychologist with more than 40 years of experience with trauma victims, described the situations of those in Nauru and Manus as the worst ones in the world. he has never seen

. Australia has made children suffer terribly with innumerable reports of sexual assault and abuse, the Council said.

In the past six months, the courts have ordered eight children with life-threatening psychological or physical illnesses to be brought to Australia. Australian Government Protests

These court orders had to be made because the Australian government repeatedly ignored the advice of doctors calling for medical transfers.

The highest-ranking medical official has moved to Nauru to express himself, Nick Martin, said that diabetics risked becoming blind and that pregnant women faced delays in treating complications. serious.

Other pregnant women who had to terminate their pregnancy The Australian government even tried to transfer a woman to Papua New Guinea to end her pregnancy, even though abortion is illegal in this country .

The offshore transformation is also tearing families apart. Although the separation of children from their parents has rightly caused widespread outrage in the United States, Australian offshore treatment policies have been separating families for years.

Many families are separated between Australia, Nauru and PNG. There are fathers who have never met their children.

Five years later, more than 80% of the inhabitants of Manus Island and Nauru are still in limbo. They can not work, study, live in safety or have hopes for the future.

It is even worse for those who come from countries like Iran and Somalia because it is highly unlikely that they are resettled by the United States. This policy had undermined Australia's credibility as a leader of human rights, as a leader in our region and as a leading multicultural country, said the Council. .