What’s being hidden on Manus and Nauru?

What’s being hidden on Manus and Nauru?

By Torin Peel on April 29, 2014 • ( 0 )

Everyone knows that asylum seekers detained on Manus Island and Nauru
face poor living conditions, every day. Why are they so bad, and what’s
being hidden from the public?


In February, visa prices for journalists wishing to travel to Nauru
increased from $200 to $8000. What could be the reasoning behind this?


Amnesty International has been denied access to visit the Nauru
detention centre by the Nauru government, based on ‘the current
circumstances’. Nauru is refusing to allow any form of independent
review of the conditions inside the detention centre.


The conditions on Nauru are so bad that journalists and human rights
activists are being barred access, and shut out of entering the country.
This is something we should be concerned about.


There are few photos of the facilities on Manus Island and Nauru.
Staff aren’t allowed to take photos, and journalists find it very
difficult to gain access. The few photos we do have paint a shocking
picture.


After photos were taken of detainees up against the wire fence, a
black screen was put up to prevent us from seeing the faces of those on
the inside.


An Amnesty International report in 2012 found that detainees in the
Nauru detention centre were living in cramped conditions, and suffered
from both physical and mental ailments. It also found their human rights
were routinely being violated. We can only assume things have been
getting worse since then.


But it’s not just Amnesty International concerned about conditions.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has raised concerns
about the living conditions of asylum seekers in these facilities. It
described the Nauru detention centre as rat-infested, cramped and very
hot.


Immigration Minister Scott Morrison now says he cannot guarantee the
safety of detainees inside Australia’s detention centres, contrary to
his statements earlier in the year.


If we are forcing these people to be locked away in our detention
facilities, the least we can do is guarantee them safety and basic human
rights.


We can only ask ourselves, what don’t we know about Manus Island and Nauru, and what’s being hidden?


Following the tragic death of Reza Barati on Manus Island in
February, candlelight vigils were held nationwide, drawing in thousands
of supporters.


It seems regular, everyday Australians have more concern and care for
refugees and asylum seekers than our government and those being paid to
look after them.


The right thing to do would for Manus Island and Nauru to allow
independent oversight of the detention facilities. We need to make sure
that refugees under our care are being treated with the utmost of care.


Torin is a political campaigner,
technology enthusiast and writer. He is a member of the Australian
Labor Party. You can follow him on Twitter, @torin.

Scott Morrison visit sent Manus tension soaring, says G4S whistleblower

Scott Morrison visit sent Manus tension soaring, says G4S whistleblower

• Former security officer Martin Appleby talks exclusively to Guardian Australia, the first guard to speak out
• Minister 'put security at risk' when he told asylum seekers they would never see Australia
• Detention centre beset by lack of proper procedures, unprofessional conduct and atrocious conditions, Appleby says

• 
  theguardian.com,
  Monday 28 April 2014 15.12 AEST
  

Scott Morrison directly contributed to tension in the Manus Island
detention centre during a late September visit, according to an
explosive set of allegations made by former G4S guard Martin Appleby,
who is the first guard to speak publicly since the unrest on Manus in
February that left one asylum seeker dead.

In an exclusive
interview with Guardian Australia, Appleby, who worked as a safety and
security officer and a training officer on Manus between July and late
December 2013, alleges:

• The immigration minister addressed a
  compound in late September, resulting in a state of “high alert” being
  called for riot, fire and self-harm. Appleby made these observations in a
  video diary that was recorded just days after Morrison’s address. The
  minister, according to Appleby, told asylum seekers: “You will never see
  the shores of Australia.” The decision to address asylum seekers in
  this manner, “put people’s security at risk, including his own”, and was
  a turning point in tensions within the camp, according to Appleby.

• Papua
  New Guinean nationals in the incident response teams (IRTs) were given
  “probably three days” of training. Appleby describes this as not at all
  adequate. Local IRTs are alleged to have been involved in the violence
  that erupted on the evening of 17 February, when Reza Barati was killed. A G4S incident report extract of that night
  seen independently by Guardian Australia observes a manager “lost
  control” of her IRT that evening. Appleby, who has a decade’s experience
  in corrections, says the training of the local IRTs should have been a
  “minimum six intensive weeks”.

• As the numbers in the
  centre began to swell after the introduction of the “PNG solution”, G4S
  “couldn’t afford any more time to give to training and it was a sort of a
  snowball effect”, Appleby says. “It was a failure that was always going
  to fail,” he adds.

• There was no proper procedure in
  place to count the number of asylum seekers in the centre. Appleby says
  he has "no doubt" detainees absconded from the camp.

• Facilities in the detention centre were atrocious: “No one should be made to live under those conditions. No one.”

A
spokeswoman for Morrison’s office said there was “no basis in fact” for
the allegation that the minister’s September trip had exacerbated
tension on Manus. “Claims that the minister was ‘evacuated’ or had
‘increased tensions’ are false. They have no basis in fact,” she said.

Morrison said in an Operation Sovereign Border press conference on 30 September
that he had addressed asylum seekers on Manus: “I gave them a very
clear message, and it was this; they will not be getting what they came
for. They would remain there at that centre until they went home or were
settled in a country other than Australia.”

Asked for a response
to all of Appleby’s allegations, the spokeswoman responded: “The
government inherited a facility on Manus Island that had been rushed by
the previous government.” A full statement can be read here.

Guardian
Australia has produced three films of Appleby’s allegations. They
feature never-before-seen footage from inside the detention centre and
use evidence obtained by a sustained investigation into the unrest.

None of the footage or documents used were provided to Guardian Australia by Appleby.

He
also alleges that there was no process to permanently separate
vulnerable asylum seekers from the main population. Appleby says he was
given the task of caring for one sexual assault victim for 24 hours; the
detainee was “very scared” of what would happened to him when he
returned to his compound.


Appleby was present during the evacuation of the centre on 18 October,
after an altercation between the PNG navy and police outside the main
gate. His is the first detailed account of that event. He says PNG
forces turned on G4S staff who rushed out to stop the confrontation.
Personnel were evacuated single file along a beach behind the centre,
leaving asylum seekers alone in the compound. He says there were no
evacuation procedures. “We didn’t know how many staff at that point were
being evacuated,” he said. “Was it mismanagement? Was it lack of
procedure? Was it all of the above? For people from professional
backgrounds to act in such a way was just disgraceful.”


Since leaving Manus, Appleby has announced he will stand as an ALP candidate in the Victorian state elections. He says none of his allegations are politically motivated.

A
spokesman for G4S did not respond to Appleby’s specific allegations.
“G4S will not comment in detail on individual allegations with regard to
the Manus Island incidents of 16 and 17 February, as we do not wish to
pre-empt or compromise a number of Australian and PNG reviews that are
currently under way,” he said.

Grattan on Friday: Just because the news moves on, let's not forget Manus Island

25 April 2014, 7.11am AEST

Grattan on Friday: Just because the news moves on, let’s not forget Manus Island

The government tries wherever possible to throw a blanket of
secrecy over the Manus Island detention centre. But now Tony Abbott
could face an unusual challenge to the policy of minimising information…

Author

1. 
   
   
   

   Michelle Grattan
   
   

   Professorial Fellow at University of Canberra
   
   
   
   
   

Disclosure Statement

Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult to, own shares in
or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit
from this article, and has no relevant affiliations.

Provides funding as a Member of The Conversation.

canberra.edu.au

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison is sitting on the interim report about the death of asylum seeker Reza Berati.
AAP/Alan Porritt

The government tries wherever possible to throw a blanket
of secrecy over the Manus Island detention centre. But now Tony Abbott
could face an unusual challenge to the policy of minimising information.



The Senate committee investigating the February violence at the centre, which resulted in Iranian asylum seeker Reza Barati being killed, is expected to seek the government’s help to facilitate a visit to inspect the place.



This could be seen as a test of the executive versus the parliament.
While having the senators go to Manus would be awkward for the
government, so would refusing to assist them.



The Prime Minister’s office says access to the Manus centre would be a
matter for the Papua New Guinea government “as it is in their sovereign
jurisdiction”.



This is a side step. It’s hard to see that a word for or against the
visit from the Australian government wouldn’t be pretty influential with
PNG.



The visit would elevate the debate about what’s happening at Manus.
The committee, whose inquiry was initiated by Greens senator Sarah
Hanson-Young, will hold its formal hearings in Australia, to put them
beyond any legal ambiguity. In late May and June it will question
whistle blowers.



But its presence at the centre and what it saw there would shine
attention on how people are being treated. Hanson-Young says: “The
Australian parliament appropriates hundreds of millions of dollars a
year to run the Manus Island detention centre. We have a responsibility
to know what’s been going on inside.”



As it is, the debate about the lack of human rights at the Manus
centre seems to have been numbed. This week Fairfax had significant
video footage of the aftermath of the riot; among other things it
indicated that where Barati had died had not been roped off, which
compromised evidence.



But whatever comes to light has diminishing impact in the public
arena with its rushed news cycle, and certainly none on the government.



Immigration Minister Scott Morrison is sitting on the interim report
about the February incident done by a former head of the
attorney-general’s department, Robert Cornall. The minister uses the
excuse that Labor didn’t release interim reports (as if the ALP should
be the benchmark of best practice – in opposition Morrison would have
had something to say about that).



Morrison says he hopes the final Cornall report – which will be
released - and other inquiries will be completed “soon”. One can only
wonder why it’s taking so long. The government is able to use the fact
of ongoing inquiries to avoid questions on details as they come up.



On Monday the ABC’s Four Corners will revisit the February events.
Advance publicity for the program says it “reveals how the Papua New
Guinea government’s failure to set up a processing and resettlement
system created the preconditions for protest and disorder”.



As always, we continue to hear from the government that processing on
Manus is progressing. But still no one has come out of the system.
Morrison said this week: “We are in monthly bilateral discussions now
with PNG and Nauru … We are expecting the first round of decisions to
come down this month and that is what we are working to both on Nauru
and Manus Island.”



It is disgraceful that the Manus processing has been so inefficient.



Morrison, who like Joe Hockey has long-run ambitions for leadership,
would feel he has fulfilled his brief to the letter – the boats have
stopped.



Yet he is condoning 1300 people being held on Manus in dreadful
conditions. The situation is made more difficult by the fact that
Australia has to operate with PNG, which has formal authority on the
ground. But Australia pays the bills and holds the real power. Even with
all the problems, processing should have been done faster and Morrison
should have found a way to get the PNG authorities to achieve that.



But in the government’s mind asylum seekers are second class
individuals when it comes to treatment and rights. They are
automatically regarded as untrustworthy, not to be even listened to.



We saw this in the “burnt hands” allegations.
Morrison and other government figures condemned the ABC’s initial story
in the most extravagant terms, dismissing asylum seekers'
“unsubstantiated claims” about the behaviour of navy personnel.



Much later the ABC had people on camera relating what they alleged
had happened. But that made no difference to the government. It had no
intention of interviewing the people. Its rhetorical carpet bombing had
ensured that whether they were telling the truth or lying didn’t matter
anymore. No one was listening.



With Manus, it is different. A young man has died and the Australian government obviously carries a share of responsibility.



It is about time it stopped hiding behind the numerous inquiries and
provided some answers. It could start by putting out the Cornall interim
report.

Nauru guards accused of assaulting children

NAURU GULAG SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN IMMEDIATELY AND ALL ASYLUM SEEKERS BROUGHT TO AUSTRALIA

Nauru guards accused of assaulting children

Exclusive: Charity worker's letter says guard hit girl so hard on head that she fell to the ground

• 
  theguardian.com,
  Thursday 24 April 2014 07.48 AEST
  

There have been reports of 'a lot of
conflict' between Save the Children staff and Wilson Security employees
on Nauru. Photograph: Department of Immigration/AAP

Security guards at the family camp on Nauru have been accused of
verbally and physically abusing child asylum seekers in a letter of
concern from staff at the centre.

The letter by a Save the
Children Australia worker to the charity’s Nauru contractors expresses
“extremely alarming” allegations of “mistreatment and inappropriate
behaviour” directed at asylum seekers by guards employed by Wilson
Security, also now contracted at the Manus Island facility.

The
letter, obtained by Guardian Australia, alleges that on 27 March a
Wilson guard was seen by a Save the Children staff member chasing an
asylum-seeker girl in the recreation area inside the centre and “hit her
on the back of the head”.

It continues: “His [the guard] force
and size was so big that the blow caused the child to fall to the
ground.” It says the guard proceeded to verbally abuse staff from Save
the Children, which provides support to child asylum seekers on Nauru.

Guardian
Australia understands this guard was a local employee and is being
investigated by the Nauruan police, having been stood down from duties
in the family camp following the allegations. It is unclear if he
continues to work for Wilson.

On the same day a Wilson security
guard was also observed by a Save the Children employee using “excessive
force” to remove a child from the playground in the centre. The letter
continues: “The father [of the child] also witnessed the incident and
yelled out to the guard, believing that it was not the first time this
guard has mistreated his child.”

The serious allegations raise
doubts about remarks made by the immigration minister, Scott Morrison,
on Tuesday. He described the detention centres on Nauru as “running
well”. Morrison has consistently maintained that Nauru is an appropriate
location to send families and has recently begun transferring
unaccompanied minors to detention centres on the island.

Further questions about the safety of the Nauru detention centre were raised on Tuesday after Guardian Australia revealed that an unexploded second world war bomb was found inside the family camp.

The
allegations in the letter of concern include that on 30 March, an
asylum-seeker child reported to a Save the Children staff member he had
been pushed by a guard at the recreational tent, which also serves as a
classroom. The letter states this was not witnessed by Save the Children
staff, but the guard was later seen “standing over the child in an
intimidating/ threatening manner”.

The letter continues: “The
guard reported to staff that the child had sworn at him and when the
Save the Children staff member raised the issue of his intimidating
behaviour, he waved his arms and walked away agitated.”

On 25
March, a child asylum seeker was reported as being “very unwell” and
needing “pressing medical attention” because he was “close to passing
out and was extremely weak”, but Save the Children staff reported the
approach of Wilson guards to assisting the child was “very casual and
resistant”. The family of the child were told they would have to wait
for half an hour before being moved to medical facilities.

One
contractor on Nauru told Guardian Australia there was “a lot of
conflict” between Save the Children staff and Wilson Security personnel.

The
letter continues: “The nature and extent of these incidents is
extremely alarming given the mistreatment and inappropriate behaviour
directed from Wilsons staff.” It adds that all the allegations – which
also include another on 26 March of a guard swearing at and mocking an
adult male asylum seeker – would be formally reported as incident
reports, which are submitted to the Department of Immigration.

A
spokesman for Save the Children said the organisation had a
“zero-tolerance approach to issues of physical or mental abuse of
children”, describing the safety and wellbeing of children on Nauru as
their “No 1 priority”.

“Save the Children immediately documents
and escalates any incidents of concern involving children. While we
remain concerned about the harmful impacts of prolonged detention on
children in Nauru, we are satisfied that for any such incidents raised,
appropriate steps are taken to prevent any additional harm,” the
spokesman said.

A spokeswoman for Wilson Security said the
company had started a “thorough and detailed internal investigation” as a
result of the allegations. She said it would be “highly inappropriate
to speculate” until due process had been followed.

“Wilson
Security staff all receive training in working with children and other
vulnerable groups. All staff undergo mandatory police and character
checks. Operations are closely supervised, and include oversight from
independent parties,” she said.

The company did not comment on whether the guard accused of assaulting a child was still employed by Wilson.

A
spokeswoman for Morrison said the allegations were being “taken
seriously” and that any instances of assault were referred to the Nauru
police for investigation.

Asked if the allegations had any effect
on the policy of offshore processing for asylum-seeker children, she
said “the government will continue to operate the full suite of border
policies”.

The minister had been advised Wilson Security had a
“positive working relationship” with all other service providers on
Nauru, the spokeswoman said.

“Transferees also have access to a
robust service provider complaints mechanism at the offshore processing
centres,” Morrison’s spokeswoman said.

Sarah Hanson-Young, the
Greens’ spokeswoman for immigration, said: “Reports that children are
being verbally and physically assaulted by local security staff at the
Nauru detention centre are extremely concerning and must be addressed
immediately.

“The government has a responsibility to provide care
and protection to these children and they have neglected that
responsibility today.

“The department must investigate these
incidents immediately. An internal investigation undertaken by the very
organisation allegedly responsible for the attacks is simply not good
enough.

“We know that indefinite detention has serious mental
health implications for children and now there is mounting evidence that
these children aren’t even safe at the hands of the very people
responsible for looking after them.

“The Abbott government cannot ensure the safety of these vulnerable children when they are locked up on a remote island prison.

“They must be brought to Australia immediately where they can live in a safe environment, free from threat.”

UNHCR wants answers over asylum seeker policy

UNHCR wants answers over asylum seeker policy

Asylum seeker boat turn-back questions going unanswered by Government, says UNHCR

AM

By George Roberts

Updated
2 hours 26 minutes ago

Photo:
Some asylum seekers have been towed back to Indonesian waters using Australian-supplied disposable lifeboats. (AAP: El Darmwan)

Related Story:
Indonesia to host talks on protection of asylum seekers

Related Story:
Indonesia expects Australia to sign off agreement to limit spying

Map:
Australia

The United Nations refugee agency has asked Australia
to prove it is not breaching the Refugee Convention with its policy of
turning back asylum seeker boats.

Speaking in Jakarta, the UNHCR's
regional representative says the Australian Government has not
responded to the UN's concerns about the policies.

The request for information was made in January.

UNHCR
regional representative James Lynch says people from seven boats that
have been returned to Indonesia recently told the UN agency they made it
to Australian land or at least its territorial waters.

He says if that is true, Australia's responsibility is to allow them to be processed as asylum seekers.

Mr
Lynch says it is significant that thousands of asylum seekers arrived
in Australia until late last year but it is not a crisis by world
standards.

I think when you sit and listen to what countries in the region
like Iraq are dealing with, or Jordan or Lebanon, it's hard to see it
[Australia's situation] as a crisis.

UNHCR representative James Lynch

"We have in Syria 6 million either internally displaced
or refugees and they have found themselves in the neighbouring
countries," Mr Lynch said.

"A country like Iraq, which has its own internal problems, has been able to accept 250,000 Syrian refugees.

"I
think when you sit and listen to what countries in the region like Iraq
are dealing with, or Jordan or Lebanon, it's hard to see it
[Australia's situation] as a crisis."

Mr Lynch has been attending a
two-day meeting about protecting asylum seekers at sea. It attracted
delegates from 13 countries, including Australia, and was co-hosted by
Indonesia and the United Nations refugee agency.

He says the UNHCR
understands Australia wants to stop people-smuggling networks and
prevent deaths at sea but it needs to comply with its international
obligations.

"There are obligations as a signatory to the 1951
Convention and the 1967 protocol, which say: if you intercept in your
territorial waters, you should allow those in need of protection to have
access to the asylum system," he said.

Questions over boats turned back

Mr Lynch says the UNHCR has been told seven boats have been turned back.

"People on the boats have said to us that they either landed or were in Australian territorial waters," he said.

"We have written to the Australian Government, expressing our concern, and would like to hear their side of the story.

"We
don't have evidence on the other side; we only have the accounts that
we've heard from people who were on the boat that say that they were in
Australian territorial waters."

We're talking about a secondary movement of [asylum seekers]
who are coming from halfway around the world. We're not talking about
people just walking straight across one border.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison says he disagrees with the UNHCR's criticism of the Federal Government's policy.

"They've always opposed our turn-back policy," Mr Morrison told Sky News.

"We're talking about a secondary movement of [those] who are coming from halfway around the world.

"We're not talking about people just walking straight across one border.

"The
issue we've had with the UNHCR as a Coalition is a lack of action on
secondary movement and people taking advantage of the convention."

But Opposition immigration spokesman Richard Marles says the UN agency is right to criticise the Government's turn-back policy.

Mr Marles told Sky News that the Government needs to provide more information.

"We don't know as an Australian public what is going on on the high seas," he said.

"It
comes back to this question that this is a secretive Government who is
not telling the Australian people what their policies are and so we
can't be sure if the Australian Government is engaged in the
unauthorised movements of peoples across borders."

The UNHCR says
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison's office has not responded to
questions about whether a boat reached Australian territory in January,
and if so, when he was made aware of it.

I would think that if you have lived up to your obligations and
stand prepared to honour those obligations, you would want to do an
investigation to show that you are not in violation.

UNHCR representative James Lynch

"I would think that if you have lived up to your
obligations and stand prepared to honour those obligations, you would
want to do an investigation to show that you are not in violation," Mr
Lynch said.

"They would want to show that they have not in any way violated their obligations under the convention."

The official summary of discussions as released by the co-chairs of the meeting recommends that
countries "ensure the full promotion and protection of the rights of
rescued or intercepted persons at sea and upon disembarkation in
accordance with relevant international obligations".

Indonesia's
director-general of multilateral affairs, Hasan Kleib, says Australia's
policies were not discussed in the workshop as it was focused on
protecting so-called "irregular migrants" at sea.

A spokeswoman
for Mr Morrison says the Federal Government will continue to use its
current border protection policies because they are clearly working.

She
says there have been no successful people-smuggling ventures to
Australia in four months and the Government's strong stand is benefiting
the region.

Mr Lynch strongly commended Indonesia for holding an international meeting focussed on protecting asylum seekers.

More on this story

• Australia pledges $20 million for Syrian refugees
• Indonesia to hold asylum talks with Australia
• Babies born in detention should stay in Australia: lawyers 
• Thousands protest Government's asylum seeker policies
• Nauru asylum seekers to be temporarily resettled 
• Federal Court quashes government decision on asylum seeker protection visas
• Nauru says UN cancellation of detention centre inspections a publicity stunt
• High Court agrees to hear challenge to processing of asylum seekers on Manus Island
• Children in detention: Is Australia breaching international law?
• Immigration Minister Scott Morrison acknowledges asylum boat turn-backs as UN interviews asylum seekers

Topics:
immigration,
refugees,
federal-government,
world-politics,
australia,
christmas-island,
papua-new-guinea,
nauru,
switzerland

Sleepless nights until the Manus nightmare ends

Sleepless nights until the Manus nightmare ends

Date

April 22, 2014 - 11:45PM

• 5 reading now
• 
  Comments 78
  
• 
  

Ben Pynt

Exclusive: inside the Manus Island riot

Vision and images obtained exclusively
by Fairfax Media reveal the violence unleashed by PNG guards on asylum
seekers detained on Manus Island in mid-February.

In my day job in the construction industry, I specialise in
alternative dispute resolution in the thriving gas pipeline sector in
Western Australia. By night, I get to follow my true passion as a human
rights advocate. I work with the men, women and children interned in the
Manus Island, Nauru and Christmas Island detention centres. I speak
with them daily, organise lawyers to represent them and co-ordinate
complaints on their behalf (complaints are taken more seriously if an
Australian lodges them). I sometimes put them in touch with journalists.



More than half of the people I work with have suffered
torture and/or trauma before seeking asylum in Australia by boat. They
are then detained indefinitely, without having committed a crime, in
conditions unduly harsh for even the most despicable murderer or
paedophile; conditions that lead about a third of asylum seekers to
attempt self-harm and/or suicide during their time in detention.

They can’t believe that we do this to pregnant women and newborn babies. But we do. 

Those who speak with me send me photos and testimonies and
beg me to have them published. They tell me they are under constant
threat of reprisals: from locals who taunt them by making the sign of
slitting their throats, and guards who they allege encourage them to
commit self-harm. Many feel a return to their homeland and the prospect
of being killed there is better than the uncertainty of indefinite
detention and possible death on Manus Island.

Illustration: Kerrie Leishman.

Over the past week, I have relived a dozen times the trauma
of the February attacks on the Manus Island detention centre. I
travelled to London, Paris and Geneva for eight days to tell the world
about what is happening on Manus. I organised interviews and meetings
with media, non-government organisations and international human rights
specialists. 




Every day, as I explained the circumstances of detention at
Manus, and as I showed photos sent to me by the men interned there of
the horrific injuries they sustained in the attacks, I felt like I was
there. I have read their testimonies so many times they are committed to
memory and I experience the scenes vividly. I see the attackers (I know
their faces from social media), I see the men being pulled from under
their beds and hacked with machetes or beaten with rocks and boots, and
it brings tears to my eyes. Every time.



After these meetings, I would often walk around aimlessly for
a while, staring into the distance. I rode the London underground from
Victoria to Walthamstow before realising I had gone seven stations too
far. I went to the theatre on my last night in London, but don’t really
remember the show.



The people I met were shocked and disbelieving of my version
of events. Until they saw the photos. Until they heard the voices of
asylum seekers speaking over the telephone from Manus Island about what
happened to them. Until they saw that everything we have reported since
one day after the attacks has been verified by the media and, to a large
extent, admitted by the government. Then they were horrified.



An audience of millions tuned in to engage with our BBC Radio
4 Today show package – the most listened-to news program on English
radio. Journalists, when they had the full situation explained and saw
the evidence for themselves, were eager to write about the Guantanamo
Bay of the Pacific: Australia’s national shame.



The meeting with the United Nations was the most important
but the hardest of all. The people I met with are hardened human rights
specialists who spend their days sifting through complaints alleging
serious crimes including extra-judicial killings, and even they were
shocked at what they heard and saw. The UN wanted more details than the
journalists and advocates I met with, I spent hours taking them through
the minutiae.



I can’t bring myself to listen to my own interviews, and I
don’t really read the news about asylum seekers any more. I skim the
headlines and know what’s happening. I speak with other advocates, with
sympathetic politicians and asylum seekers themselves, but reading the
news is too distressing. 



The government has brought about a siege mentality in asylum
advocates. We’re always on the back foot, always reacting rather than
anticipating. Always reassuring people they’re going to be OK, hoping
beyond hope our words are true.



I’m now working closely with the UN, human rights advocates
and non-government organisations to take the next steps to shame
Australia for its actions at the international level. I am working with
journalists around the world to make sure their readers and listeners
know what our government does to people who ask for our assistance.
Because when people hear the truth, they are outraged. 



They are aghast that Australia has institutionalised mental
torture on a massive scale, and facilitates the physical abuse of asylum
seekers by sending them to places with inadequate medical facilities
and an unacceptable risk of contracting malaria, dengue fever, cholera
or infectious diarrhoea. They can’t believe that we do this to pregnant
women and newborn babies. But we do.



Australia doesn’t have a bill of rights. The only
constitutional rights protections that we have are about voting,
religion, and equality before the law. But the Abbott government
recently removed access to legal aid for asylum seekers, so the last
guarantee has become ineffective.



What can we do? We can speak out. We can write to our local
members. We can tell our friends in Australia and overseas the truth
about what is happening at Manus. The same truth that has been reported
by Amnesty, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and countless
advocates. The truth that is communicated by brave men in detention at
great personal risk. The truth that the government denies and is trying
to suppress. The more we talk, the more pressure we place on the Abbott
government to act in accordance with international human rights
obligations.



Until then, the men at Manus will continue to sleep in
shifts, because they are afraid of being attacked again.  Like me, and
all of us with a conscience, we are unlikely to get a good night’s sleep
until we put an end to mandatory detention in this country.



Ben Pynt is the director of human rights advocacy at Humanitarian Research Partners.



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Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/sleepless-nights-until-the-manus-nightmare-ends-20140422-zqxq2.html#ixzz2zf7hPyWB

Reza Barati death: Papua New Guinea nationals attacked asylum seekers on Manus Island

Reza Barati death: Papua New Guinea nationals attacked asylum seekers on Manus Island

Date

April 22, 2014

Michael Gordon

Political editor, The Age

View more articles from Michael Gordon

• inShare

EXCLUSIVE

http://media.canberratimes.com.au/news/national-news/exclusive-inside-the-manus-island-riot-5366336.html
video of Manu Island attack

Exclusive: Inside the Manus Island riot

Images obtained exclusively by Fairfax
Media reveal the violence unleashed by PNG guards on asylum seekers
detained on Manus Island in mid-February. Producer - Tim Young.

Papua New Guinean nationals employed as security guards on
Manus Island attacked asylum seekers at the detention centre more than
24 hours before Iranian Reza Berati died in a night of shocking
violence, new footage shows.



The footage, obtained by Fairfax Media, shows the security
guards attacking a group of asylum seekers who had absconded from the
centre after being told they had no prospect of being settled outside
PNG if their claims for refugee status were eventually recognised.




There are also images that show no action was taken to rope
off the scene of Mr Berati's killing before evidence was either
compromised or completely cleared away, including the rock that
witnesses say made sure he was dead.

"G4S utilised personal protection gear but no batons or otherweapons were in situ": Immigration Minister Scott Morrison. Photo: Supplied

The footage and images raise new questions about what was
done to reduce the risk of violence at the centre and the adequacy of
the subsequent investigation.




The morning after the violence, Immigration Minister Scott
Morrison reported that the centre would resume "normal operations" and
maintained: "G4S utilised personal protection gear but no batons or
other weapons were in situ and were in control of the centre for the
entire period."



But the footage clearly shows security guards throwing stones
and other objects at asylum seekers seeking refuge in a room after
being chased back into the centre by the guards.

"The incidents at Manus Island are the subject of an
independent review and police investigation": Immigration Minister Scott
Morrison.

Fairfax Media has also obtained images that show how the
fence at the compound was pushed in by PNG nationals who entered the
centre, allegedly enraged by offensive chants by asylum seekers.



They also show bullet holes within the complex at "stomach"
level, challenging the assertion that the only shots fired were warning
shots in the air; and they show damage to an asylum seeker’s door from a
machete as asylum seekers say they were hiding inside.



Interviews with security guards support the emails of an
Australian who warned colleagues that the detention centre was "totally
unprepared" for any major incident, such as the violence of February 16
and 17, when Mr Berati died and more than 60 others were injured.

Click for more photos

Manus Island riot

A still from a video shows guards attacking detainees at the Manus Island compound. Photo: Supplied

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It was reported on the weekend that Paul Skillen, who worked
as a G4S security supervisor at the centre, emailed colleagues in
November expressing concerns that poorly trained workers were staffing
the centre, which was "a tinderbox ready to ignite".



The emails have been submitted to a Senate inquiry set up to investigate the violence at the centre.



Security guards who asked that they not be identified also
claimed those managing security at the centre had been urged to develop a
"dedicated investigative capacity", but had failed to act.



They also accused security contractor G4S, since replaced by
Transfield, of failing to conduct a skills audit of its staff. "They
didn’t know who they had on the ground and who could do what," one
source said.



They also claimed:

• 
  
  The training of PNG nationals employed as security guards was
  totally inadequate, with the nationals unprepared to perform many of
  the duties assigned to them, including being part of an emergency
  response team.
  
  
  
• 
  
  Command and control on the night of the extreme violence was
  hampered because many security guards did not have radios. "Hardly
  anyone had a radio, regardless of what they say," one said. "They
  ordered new radios in and they forgot to order spare batteries, so they
  get used for four or five hours then on charger for four or five hours.
  How can you control a riot when you’ve got no communications?"
  
  
  
• 
  
  Control on the night was also hampered because of a lack of torches when the power was cut to two compounds.
  
  
  
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  Acts of self-harm and attempted suicides were common at the
  centre. "The fortunate thing was that they are that crammed in that
  someone would raise the alert," a source said.
  
  
  

Security guards and local residents also criticised the
failure of those managing the centre to allow for interaction with
locals that, they say, would have built a level of trust and goodwill
and dispelled damaging rumours.



They also say the refusal to allow detainees any capacity to
humanise their environments by growing plants contributed to the
tensions. Asylum seekers were not allowed to have brooms to sweep their
quarters because of concern that they could be used as weapons, a source
said.



The decision to cover the view of the ocean with a screen to
prevent media from taking pictures was also cited as a contributing
factor.



A spokesman for G4S said the company would not comment in detail on individual allegations.



"Suffice it to say it is not G4S’s role to investigate any
crimes that may have been committed on Manus Island; that is the role of
the PNG police, which has jurisdictional authority."



The spokesman said: "We are and will continue to fully
co-operate with all investigations and reviews by the governments of
Australia and Papua New Guinea."



Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said he would await the
outcome of an independent review and the police investigation before
commenting further on the Manus incidents.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/reza-barati-death-papua-new-guinea-nationals-attacked-asylum-seekers-on-manus-island-20140421-zqxai.html#ixzz2zYMtelCU

Dengue fever outbreak hits Nauru sparking calls for restoration of health advisory panel

Dengue fever outbreak hits Nauru sparking calls for restoration of health advisory panel

By

Sarah Whyte

April 17, 2014, 11:20 a.m.

• 
  Dengue
  fever has broken out in Nauru, affecting two asylum seekers and a site
  worker at the offshore detention centre. Photo: Supplied

• Turnbacks abandoned, says Jakarta
• Reprieve for Australian-born asylum babies

A
dengue fever outbreak has gripped one of Australia's offshore
processing centres in Nauru, raising serious questions about the welfare
of asylum seekers on the island.

The
mosquito borne disease has affected two asylum seekers and one site
worker, the immigration department confirmed on Wednesday night.

"All
three people have been isolated and are receiving appropriate treatment
and are expected to make a full recovery," a spokeswoman for
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said.

No
pregnant women have been affected, and there is a "comprehensive
mosquito control program" on the island, the spokeswoman said.

But
the outbreak in the centre, which houses 1166 asylum seekers, has
caused the Greens to renew their call for the restoration of an
independent health advisory panel for offshore detention centres that
was axed in December.

“The Australian
Government is forcing children and babies to live in the midst of a
dengue fever outbreak,” Greens’ immigration spokeswoman Senator Sarah
Hanson-Young said.

“An independent panel of
experts to oversee the medical and psychological health of refugees in
these camps is an absolute necessity.

“Children
should never have been locked up in these conditions and, with no
independent medical access, the risk to their physical and mental health
is extremely serious.''

Dr Louise Newman,
the former chair of the Independent Immigration Health Advisory Group,
said the latest outbreak was "gravely concerning" for women and children
on the island.

"This is not a suitable
environment for women and children to be transferred to Nauru, they
would rather die than face having to care for their child there," she
said.

Dr Newman said the government needed
independent expert advice to help the provider and the department to
manage the health of those in remote housing conditions.

Asylum seekers, including children, continue to be moved from Christmas Island to Nauru.

Christian protestors arrested after sit-in at Julie Bishop's Perth office

Christian protestors arrested after sit-in at Julie Bishop's Perth office

Date

April 14, 2014 - 1:53PM

• 
  

Liam Ducey

Protestors stage a sit-in over the detention of asylum seeker children. Photo: Aaron Bunch

Police have arrested 11 church leaders and members who staged
a sit-in at the electoral office of Julie Bishop to protest what they
call the "cruel" treatment of children in immigration detention centres.



The peaceful protest began at 10am, with staff at the electoral office immediately calling the Australian Federal Police.




The first AFP vehicle arrived at the office, on the corner of
Rokeby and Nicholson roads, at 10.30am and was quickly followed by
another two AFP and five WA Police vehicles.

Outside Julie Bishop's Perth electorate office. Photo: Liam Ducey

The protest follows similar action last month in Sydney when
nine Christians held a prayer vigil at the office of Immigration
Minister Scott Morrison's.




Several protestors were arrested after refusing to move on and later faced court, where charges were dismissed.



Jarrod McKenna was one of the protesters arrested in Sydney and he has again been arrested along with 10 other protesters.

Protestors and supporters. Photo: Aaron Bunch

All have been charged with trespassing and are currently in custody at the Perth police station.



A spokeswoman for the protesters, Kris Kingwell, said there
was an element of a media stunt to the protest and it was the best way
to bring attention to the issue.



"Everyone in the office was fully prepared and expecting to be arrested," she said.



"This is about the 1138 children being indefinitely detained for no reason.



"This is the beginning of holy week, we have Easter coming up and this makes us think about some big issues.



"It's to draw attention to the cruelty of our policies.



"This is how society works, you need to be able to in some
way get your message out, so yes there is an element of media stunt but
this is a way people can access our message."



Ms Bishop's spokeswoman Stephanie Vanicek said there would be no comment on the incident. She added Ms Bishop was overseas. 

Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/christian-protestors-arrested-after-sitin-at-julie-bishops-perth-office-20140414-36met.html#ixzz2yqyaaVPT