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Nauru

PNG Supreme Court – Manus Island decision

 cal-0814-cl5-court04PNG High Court Rules Manus Island Detention Centre Illegal, demanding its closure

On Tuesday 26 April 2016, the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court ruled that the detention of refugees on Manus Island is illegal under PNG Law.

Refugees detained on Manus Island had previously attempted to seek asylum in Australia and were being processed offshore in PNG.

The decision turned on the interpretation of the nation’s constitution. The full bench agreed that the detention centre violated Section 42 of the Papua New Guinean constitution relating to the deprivation of the liberty of a person.

This section lists extensive conditions for the exemption of a person’s liberty but the judges found that the indefinite placement of asylum seekers on the island and the duress experienced during detention meant that the policy was “unconstitutional and therefore illegal”.

The ruling, which was finalised by Justices Kandakasi and Higgins, settled questions surrounding the breach of both Papua New Guinea’s constitutional law and the severe breach of international human rights law, including the neglect to international conventions against torture which both Australia and PNG are signatories.

The court summary also provides a consensus that both Australia and PNG Governments responsible for the inhumane immigration policy take every step necessary to end and prevent the violation of Papua New Guinea’s constitutional laws and the human rights of people within PNG’s borders.

The decision has been praised as a victory by human rights agencies and the refugee community more broadly

PNG’s Prime Minister, Peter O’Neil, has also released a statement that the country will close the detention centre, adding that the time for its closure is yet to be negotiated with Australia.

In a joyous response, Iranian Refugee and activist Behrouz Bouchani has described the decision as a historically great day in the lives of refugees, as the 850 detainees remaining on the island received the news of the centre’s closure.

In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling and decision of the Papua New Guinean Prime Minister, Australia’s Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton pointed out that although the ruling was binding on PNG, It would not shift Australia’s stance on its immigration policy, amidst rumours to expand capacity on Christmas Island (as reported in various media outlets).

The decision was also described as a “concern” by Labour’s immigration spokesman, Richard Marles.

Save the Children staff are hopeful that the decision will open up a dialogue between governments across the Asia-Pacific region about the wider refugee crisis, and have encouraged countries to use the decision as an opportunity to act collectively to mitigate the wider implications of displacement crises across the world.

The urgency of the situation has been reinforced following the tragic news emanating from Nauru this week.

Footage emerged of a distressed Iranian man engaging in self-immolation outside the Nauru Detention Centre. The 23 year- old man known as Omid died in a Brisbane hospital after being airlifted from Nauru following the incident.

The radical act of protest is not an isolated event with Immigration Minister Peter Dutton confirming that other detainees have, or have attempted to, self harm in the detention centre.

Although this tragic incident may be seen by some as a stunt to coincide with the arrival of UNHCR staff on the island, it further reiterates the urgent need for an upheaval of Australia’s immigration policies.

Detention in Nauru

child detained in Nauru expressing his thoughts of freedomA call for equality

The idea of using detention centres in the 21st Century to house those seeking asylum is barbaric in correlation with what human rights stand for.

The very essence of human rights ensures that we have are the same rights as the next person, so how and why do we have detention centres?

Refugees and asylum seekers should not be seen as a problem or used as a tool for political rhetoric. These are human beings that deserve our compassion, empathy and understanding.

Implications of detaining people at Nauru detention centre

The people that are detained are stripped of their autonomy and by way of exchange from a name to a number (boat ID), demoralising and degrading individuals, treating them like animals in captivity.

The sense of self- importance and individuality plays on one’s psychological state and opens the door to mental health related illnesses.

Social workers have reported that local Nauruan staff saw the detention centre as bride shopping expedition. This sort of environment should not be overlooked or tolerated as it condones further inhumane treatment of women in detention.

The happenings of the camp can further suggest that sexual exploitation of women and children essentially devalues the essence of human rights. Thus, the rhetoric of “stopping the boats” does not promote the right solution regarding refugees and asylum seekers arriving on our shores.

Please click on this link below for further information on this section:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-29/desperate-nauru-refugees-formed-‘suicide-pacts’:-social-worker/6581906

Border Force Act| Whistleblowing?

This relatively new law applies to some people working in detention centres. Doctors, social workers and other government-contracted workers at onshore and offshore detention centres view this law as a gag order.

In this sense, these employees may face 2 years in gaol if they speak out (whistleblowing) or write about what they see happening at these detention centres.

This is concerning in itself and represents new avenues of Government imposed restrictions on freedom of speech.

Please click on this link below for further information on this section: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-30/detention-centre-workers-face-imprisonment-for-whistleblowing/6584392

Personal stories of people detained in Nauru

Children are the most vulnerable sector of society. However, children that are held at Nauru detention centre are in prevented from experiencing their childhood in the normal way.

There have been numerous reports regarding the alleged sexual assault of children held in detention.

For instance, 2 children aged 5 and 12 years old who were allegedly sexually assaulted face the prospect of being returned to Nauru. The 12 year old child now suffers from mental health problems after the said attack and like many other children who are in this position, at risk of regression and a turn towards self-harm and further psychological issues in the future.

Holding children in detention breaks their spirit in terms of mental anguish, potentially leading to thoughts of self-harm and suicide as their answer.

The average detention time for children stretches to 14 months and around 160 children are being held in detention by Australian authorities.

Paediatrician Hasantha Gunasekera, after her visit to Nauru, stated that young children were significantly traumatised by life and that suicide seems like their best option.

The section regarding the Border Force Act may lead to Paediatrician Hasantha Gunasekera charged and gaoled for speaking about what she saw at Nauru detention centre.

This unfortunately is the reality, it is the reality of refugees and asylum seekers and it is our reality as a society.

The pictures below have been drawn by children at Nauru detention centre, providing a clear example of the stresses and strains of growing up in detention and may reflect a deterioration of mental health.

drawing of a child detained in Nauru 2child detained in Nauru expressing his thoughts of freedomdrawing of a child detained in Nauru

Please click on this link below for further information on this section: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-02/boy-allegedly-raped-on-nauru-could-be-sent-back-to-detention/7132608

Nauru – where is it and how did it become reliant on Australia and the pacific solution

gorgeous Nauru flag painted on a wood plank texture

Where is Nauru?

Most Australians have heard of it through the political pawn it has become as a nation within the Pacific Solution, but does anyone know where it is, its history, culture and the sorry tale of mining exploitation, bankruptcy and continued reliance on Australia.

Nauru’s basic information

Located in the south-western Pacific Ocean, approximately 4000 km. away from Sydney.

Nauru’s 9,488 residents live on an oval shaped coral island previously rich in phosphate, with a surface area of 21 square kilometres. This is smaller than the City of Sydney council area.

The country is also the smallest island nation, and third smallest independent state behind Monaco and The Vatican.

History of Nauru

Inhabited by Micronesians and Polynesians for nearly 3000 years, the island became a German protectorate in 1888.

Invaded by Australia during WWI and maintained as a League of Nations Mandate until Nauru was brutally invaded and enslaved by the Japanese during WWII, the Nauruan people have been through difficult times since occupation.

The discovery of phosphate and the capitalist greed displayed by colonial powers Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand (primarily Australia as the administrative power) in extracting the phosphate saw Nauru exploited in the post war years.

Independence in 1968 saw a change in fortunes as mining royalties remained with the Nauruan people, with the country seeing unprecedented per capita wealth increases. Nauru had one of the highest per capita GDP’s in the world in the 1970s.

However the gross exploitation of the land and the misuse of the recent wealth saw incomes decline and the environment deteriorate.

Nauru has since struggled to be self sufficient and relies on Australia and New Zealand for aid. The main driver of its economy now stems from reliance on Australia’s detention of asylum seekers in camps set up on the tiny island nation.

The Pacific Solution

During the infamous ‘Tampa’ affair in 2001, Prime Minister John Howard and then immigration minister Phillip Ruddock formulated the Pacific Solution which saw Christmas Island, Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and Nauru used as detention centres to deter asylum seekers from making the journey to Australia by boat, as the redefinition of Australia’s maritime borders meant that claims would not be processed in Australia, and that resettlement in Australia was unlikely.

The newly elected Rudd Government dismantled the Pacific Solution in 2008. This reignited the issue of refugees and asylum seekers in politics and continues to divide the Australian public. Julia Gillard’s Labor government reintroduced the Pacific Solution following the illegality of the Malaysian refugee swap deal.

With bipartisan support we now find refugees remain on Nauru in horrendous conditions, with Australia flagrantly breaching international law and our obligations as signatories to various United Nations treaties and agreements.

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