"the two spent 12 days interviewing 84 asylum seekers and refugees, including children, and spoke to service providers there. They said that asylum seekers were denied adequate medical care, that they were often the victims of crime and that depression and anxiety were rampant.
“Australia’s policy of exiling asylum seekers who arrive by boat is cruel in the extreme,” Ms. Neistat said. “Few other countries go to such lengths to deliberately inflict suffering on people seeking safety and freedom.”
Australia’s policy is that no asylum seeker who tries to reach the country by sea will ever be allowed to settle here, regardless of whether they are granted refugee status. The government says that policy, which rights groups and the United Nations have criticized, is meant to stop migrants from trying the often dangerous voyage in rickety boats, which have sometimes ended in mass drownings.
Migrants intercepted at sea are instead sent to Nauru or to Manus Island, a part of Papua New Guinea, where they are held indefinitely. A few refugees have been resettled in third countries, including Cambodia, and many have been returned to the countries they fled. In April, the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea ruled that the detention center there was illegal.
More than 1,000 refugees and asylum seekers, including around 50 children, are being held on Nauru. About 470 live on the grounds of the Australian-funded processing camp, while the rest live elsewhere on the impoverished island."
Related: podcast on this (Snap Judgment??)
No comments:
Post a Comment