A/HRC/35/25/Add.3
74.
Moreover, for the approximately 1,233 detainees in the regional processing centres
in Nauru and on Manus Island, approximately US$900 million is spent yearly on health
care. It is estimated that $A865,000 are spent yearly on each man, woman and child in
regional processing centres. Such a system is unsustainable. Quickly closing these centres
is the only solution.
75.
In April 2016, the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea ruled that the detention of
asylum seekers and refugees on Manus Island was unconstitutional, finding it to be in
breach of their personal liberty. The Court ordered that the Governments of Papua New
Guinea and Australia make arrangements to move people out of detention. Since the
decision by the Court, no practical steps have been taken to shut down the centre. On
17 August 2016, Papua New Guinea and Australia agreed to close the detention centre for
asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea. It remains unclear where the asylum seekers on
Manus Island will be resettled.
1.
The regional processing centres in Nauru
76.
The treatment of the approximately 1,500 asylum seekers and refugees in Nauru has
seen some improvements since the reopening of the centres in 2012. Australia has made a
considerable investment in order to develop the infrastructure necessary for over a thousand
asylum seekers and to process their refugee determination claims. The regional processing
centres were initially closed detention facilities, but they have since been opened; although
the estimated 410 asylum seekers are still required to live in the regional processing centres,
their opening has reduced some of the stress experienced by detainees. Still, the
geographical and psychological isolation of Nauru, the equatorial heat bearing down on
often still non-air-conditioned tent dwellings, the length of the processing (soon to be four
years for many of them since their arrival) and the absence of any solution allowing them a
durable resettlement in a country where they can imagine a future for themselves and their
children makes the unresolved situation extremely difficult to bear.
77.
The testimonies that the Special Rapporteur heard were often of despair, due to the
lack of information or contradictory information concerning their future: many try to keep
themselves busy working, but most have found it more and more difficult to endure as time
goes by without a solution, and very few could imagine a future on Nauru. Mental health
issues are rife, with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression being the most
common ailments. Many refugees and asylum seekers are on a constant diet of sleeping
tablets and antidepressants. Children also show signs of mental distress. Although some go
to school, they continue to have trouble integrating, due to the presence of often depressed
and anxious parental role models, the impossibility of concretely dreaming about a future
for lack of tertiary education opportunities, and the prolonged uncertainty of life on the
margins without any hope of change in sight. All this takes a heavy toll on the children’s
mental health. Many adolescents are themselves already on antidepressants.
78.
Many of the migrants reported incidents of verbal abuse, physical attack or theft
from the local community. The Special Rapporteur received information that, despite
complaints to the local police, no one is being held accountable, and due to their lack of
trust in the local police, incidents most often go unreported. The Special Rapporteur heard
accounts of the rape and sexual abuse of female asylum seekers and refugees by security
guards, by service providers, by refugees and asylum seekers or by Nauruans, and there is
not a proper and independent investigation mechanism in place, making the life of women
in the regional processing centres unbearable. Women and girls fear reporting such
incidents to the Nauruan police, and even when they are reported, investigation or
appropriate sanctions rarely ensue.
79.
Considering that this situation is purposely engineered by Australian authorities to
serve as a deterrent for potential future unauthorized maritime arrivals (“we stopped the
boats”), considering the incredible hardship that most of these asylum seekers and refugees
have already endured in their countries of origin and in transit countries on their way to
Australia, and considering that Australian authorities have been alerted to such serious
issues by numerous reports from international organizations such as the United Nations and
civil society organizations, Australia’s responsibility for the physical and psychological
damage suffered by these asylum seekers and refugees is clear and undeniable.
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