An alliance of Australia’s most important humanitarian and human rights NGOs have given a deadline of 20th of November to get all asylum seekers and refugees off of the island of Nauru, with urgent priority to be given to children. They say that a clear breach in the refugee convention must be addressed as 119 children are stuck on the island in poor conditions, a number of them facing severe physical and mental health issues.
The alliance of NGOs that are campaigning for the children of Nauru, includes: World Vision New Zealand, the Australian Council for International Development, the Refugee Council of Australia, St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral, the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, Australian Lawyers Alliance, and the Australian arms of Save the Children, Oxfam, Amnesty International and Plan International.
The #KidsOffNauru Campaign led by these organisations have said,
“There’s a quite clear contravention of the refugee convention, and also we believe very strongly a breach of the rights of the child.”
The group of organisations are continuing to apply pressure on Australia’s political leaders to evacuate the 119 children before Universal Children’s Day on 20 November this year.
Nauru: Refugee Detention Centre
The beautiful island nation of Nauru, with a population of only just over 11,000 was previously known as a tax haven and an illegal money laundering centre in the 1990s. Since 2012, it has received financial aid from Australia in return for hosting the immigration processing centre of the Australian government. This was also the case between 2001 and 2007 when the Nauru’s immigration detention centre provided a considerable source of income for the country.
Since its reopening, the Refugee Council reports that 3,127 people have been sent to Nauru for offshore processing as part of what the Australian Defence Force has named ‘Operation Sovereign Borders’.
Operation Sovereign Borders or OSB was created with the aim of stopping maritime arrivals of asylum seekers to Australia and under the Government of Australia’s “offshore processing” policy everyone who arrives by boat is taken to a “Refugee Processing Centre” by force. Australia’s harsh immigration policies were symbolised by a campaign poster that said in bold red print,
“NO WAY. You will not make Australia home.”
The largest number of people sent to Nauru are from Iran, the second largest group of individuals are stateless, other significant numbers are refugees of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq and since May 2018, 1,655 people were counted as still detained on Nauru island and an island of the nearby Papua New Guinea.
The Refugee Children of Nauru
Nauru does not have the facilities to deal with this number of people and it is the children who suffer most immediately. The Refugee Council of Australia is gravely concerned about the children that have been on the island for nearly four years. They are concerned for the health and wellbeing of the children, many of whom are now starting to show symptoms of ‘resignation syndrome’ a psychological condition in which many children are no leaving their beds, have stopped eating, drinking, talking and even going to the toilet.
Australian news outlet ABC reports that refugee children on Nauru are facing an unprecedented health crisis and are at real risk of death. Documents and witness accounts from social workers on the island say that the rate of self-harm incidents has skyrocketed in recent months, with incidents including a 14-year-old child that tried to set herself alight and a 10-year-old who “attempted to self-harm by ingesting some sharp metal objects.”
Social worker Fiona Owens who was employed by International Health and Medical Services (IMHS) as the child mental health team leader says,
“The only thing a lot of the children are thinking about is how to die. They Google it on the internet,” Ms Owens said.
Political and legal response
Under the Obama administration an agreement was created with Australia to resettle some of the refugees from Nauru in the US. Notoriously, President Trump termed this a “dumb deal”, however a few hundred people have been successfully relocated to the US. Australia has also turned down offers to take some of the refugees.
Immigration advisor Paul Dutton has been taken to court a number of times for repeatedly denying access to healthcare in Australia, in spite of life-or-death situations. Around 9 cases have so far been brought before the federal court and every single one has been won by the asylum seeker or refugee, with at least 14 people wining the right to be moved to Australia.
The Australian Medical Association have called for Australian healthcare professionals to be allowed to visit and examine the refugees and asylum seekers. Their calls have so far been denied. The international community continues to press Australia to consider its immigration policies, and at the very least examine the treatment and wellbeing of children stuck on the island of Nauru.