Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
15 Jan 2013
15 Jan 2013
Asylsum seekers protest over conditions in Nauru where they are still being forced to live five to a tent
Attempted suicides, self harm, hunger strikes and increasing despair among the almost 600 men, women and children held at detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru should come as no surprise, says Father Jim Carty, Co-ordinator of Marist Asylum Seeker and Refugee Services.
"The conditions in which they are living are intolerable. Some are forced to live in tents in sweltering conditions. Others are living in temporary dongers. Temperatures are above 40 degrees but there is no air conditioning, little shade and no freedom."
Fr Carty who has worked with asylum seekers and refugees for more than 35 years, says the Government knew when implementing its No Advantage Policy on 13 August and re-opening the detention centres on Nauru and Manus Islands what the effect on those held there would be.
"Everything that is now happening was predictable. But this didn't deter the Gillard Government even though it knew from the countless psychiatric studies and reports during the Howard era that people forced to live in harsh conditions on islands in the middle of nowhere quickly leads to complete mental breakdown and despair," he says. "We also know that deterrents such as these do not work and have not, and will not stop the boats."
Behind high fences and razor wire on Manus where asylum seekers including children may be forced to stay for five years or more
Despite this and the fact that the two hastily-opened detention centres on Manus and Nauru have few facilities, little shade and where inmates are permitted no freedom of movement, almost 600 men, women and children are being forced to sleep in non-air conditioned dongers or sweltering army tents and endure day after day of tropical heat.
"Not only are they living in appalling conditions on islands in the middle of nowhere but they have been warned that it will be months before their claims for refugee status are processed and that they may have to remain in detention for five years or longer under the No Advantage Policy," Fr Carty says.
He points out that although almost 9000 asylum seekers have arrived on our shores since the Government's adoption of its off-shore No Advantage policy, just 570 of this number, or less than 6%, have been sent off-shore to endure the deprivation and mental anguish of Nauru or Manus.
"The Government is yet again using asylum seekers as political footballs and forcing a small number of already traumatised people, including children, to endure deprivation in off shore hell holes simply to make a point," Fr Carty says and predicts that these inhumane and cruel measures adopted by the Government are likely to escalate in the coming year when Labor and the Coalition will battle to be elected as Australia's next government.
Children on Manus live in temporary dongers with no proper school and no freedoms
"It will be a race to the bottom with both sides whipping up fear and using asylum seekers as a major electoral plank. Each will try to out-tough the other in their treatment of asylum seekers and both will ramp up the debate by pretending Australia is being swamped by asylum seekers," he says and warns Australians not to be taken in and not to be blinded by such rhetoric.
"Politicians continue to beat up the issue and act as if we are being invaded by a constant wave of boats. Admittedly the number of asylum seekers reaching our shores is a serious problem that should be addressed. But it is not as large or certainly not as overwhelming as politicians would have us believe," he says.
Fr Carty also points out that the 14,000 asylum seekers who arrived in Australia last year is nowhere near the millions of displaced people fleeing conflict and persecution in the Middle East and seeking save havens and resettlement in Europe.
Interior of a tent for male asylum seekers on Manus Island
"I still believe a regional solution is the answer. Malaysia currently has 100,000 asylum seekers and Indonesia has many thousands as well. But asylum seekers in these countries have no rights. A regional solution would aim at giving protections and rights to asylum seekers and refugees throughout the region. With rights there would not be the desperation to find a safe haven like Australia where they could work, earn money and make a life."
Fr Carty says despite the long list of recommendations of the Government's Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers, led by Angus Houston, the Government has simply cherry picked what suited its political agenda.
The result is cruel punitive measures for the 170 which include 30 children aged between 7 and 18 on Manus and the 400 men living in tents on Nauru.
Fr Carty visited Manus during the Howard era and calls it a hell hole
"Australia's inhumane treatment of these asylum seekers is an abrogation of our responsibilities under the UN Refugee Convention and the UN Convention for the Rights of the Child," he says and cites the Government's early mantra that no child would be kept in detention.
"Not only are there more than 700 children in detention on mainland Australia but the Government is now warning that those in off-shore detention, including the 30 children held on Manus, in all probability will remain there for at least five years."
Fr Carty is deeply concerned about these children who have no freedoms and only a makeshift school held in a non-airconditioned donger for a few hours a day that is so hot and uncomfortable, most parents have refused to let their children attend.
"Holding children in detention is bad enough but to keep them in a hellhole like Manus Island where it looks like they will be forced to remain for five years or more is abhorrent" he says.
Manus Island detention centre no place for children
The situation on Manus continues to deteriorate. At the weekend an Iraqi father in his 30s tried to hang himself. Another two Iraqi men tried to commit suicide by climbing the camp fence and walking into the sea. The fate of the Iraqi man who is believed to be in his 30s and the father of children still in Iraq, remains unclear with the Department of Immigration reporting only that a male detainee had been taken to the medical facility on the Island with injuries after banging his head on a fence.
The other two men who attempted to drown themselves were rescued by G4S guards before they came to any harm. Yesterday, five more detainees on Manus attempted self harm.
"It's déjà vu all over again. Australia has learned nothing from its previous experience with off shore processing and the destruction of lives we saw then is happening once more," Fr Carty says.
SHARED FROM ARCHDIOCESE OF SYDNEY
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