- Moderator
- #1
This is a bit of a spin off from another thread - the condition of refugees and migrants in detention centers. What's been happening on Nauru has only recently come to light, but mirrors conditions in other terribly overcrowded refugee centers.
There is reason international law mandates that children not be imprisoned or detained with adults and that men and women are housed seperately. Overcrowding, insufficient resources, no known future - all of that can lead to severe problems and abuse on the most vulnerable, in this case children and women.
One article I read talked about human trafficking occuring in some of these camps, where young girls and women are "married" by UAE/Kuwaiti men looking for sex, and then dumped when they become pregnant. These camps jam migrants and refugees from dozens of nationalities and cultures and backgrounds together and too few people overseeing it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/11/world/australia/nauru-asylum-seeker-refugee-abuse.html
Since when have "tough measures" included the abuse of children???? Or rape?
There is reason international law mandates that children not be imprisoned or detained with adults and that men and women are housed seperately. Overcrowding, insufficient resources, no known future - all of that can lead to severe problems and abuse on the most vulnerable, in this case children and women.
One article I read talked about human trafficking occuring in some of these camps, where young girls and women are "married" by UAE/Kuwaiti men looking for sex, and then dumped when they become pregnant. These camps jam migrants and refugees from dozens of nationalities and cultures and backgrounds together and too few people overseeing it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/11/world/australia/nauru-asylum-seeker-refugee-abuse.html
Leaked documents published Wednesday reveal extensive details about the harsh conditions faced by asylum seekers who have tried to reach Australia by boat and are being held on the remote Pacific island of Nauru.
More than 2,000 incident reports, written by detention-center staff members and published by The Guardian, describe episodes of violence, including sexual assault, and self-harm. Most of the cases involved children, the newspaper said, although children made up just 18 percent of the people in detention at the time of the reports. The files extend from May 2013 to October 2015.
While the difficult conditions in the island nation have long been known, the documentation will give new evidence to opponents of Australia’s policies toward asylum seekers.
Under those policies, migrants who try to reach Australia by boat without a valid visa are held offshore in Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Even if given refugee status, they are prevented from resettling in Australia.
The Australian authorities say such tough measures are necessary to discourage attempts to make the risky voyages by sea, which have sometimes ended in mass drownings. The number of attempted boat arrivals has declined sharply since the Labor Party government of Julia Gillard revived a program of offshore detentions in 2012, and the policy is maintained today under Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of the conservative Liberal Party.
More than 2,000 incident reports, written by detention-center staff members and published by The Guardian, describe episodes of violence, including sexual assault, and self-harm. Most of the cases involved children, the newspaper said, although children made up just 18 percent of the people in detention at the time of the reports. The files extend from May 2013 to October 2015.
While the difficult conditions in the island nation have long been known, the documentation will give new evidence to opponents of Australia’s policies toward asylum seekers.
Under those policies, migrants who try to reach Australia by boat without a valid visa are held offshore in Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Even if given refugee status, they are prevented from resettling in Australia.
The Australian authorities say such tough measures are necessary to discourage attempts to make the risky voyages by sea, which have sometimes ended in mass drownings. The number of attempted boat arrivals has declined sharply since the Labor Party government of Julia Gillard revived a program of offshore detentions in 2012, and the policy is maintained today under Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of the conservative Liberal Party.
Since when have "tough measures" included the abuse of children???? Or rape?
Among the episodes outlined in the documents are multiple cases of people cutting themselves; security officers propositioning and harassing female detainees; and one instance of an officer putting his hand into a boy’s shorts during a car ride. According to that report, the boy’s father, who was also in the car, pulled the boy away but did not say anything to either of the two Nauruan officers present for fear of their reaction.
