Offshore detention may hurt Australia’s bid for UN role
AUSTRALIA Controversies over abuses in Australia’s offshore detention regime could harm its multimillion-dollar bid for a seat on the UN’s Human Rights Council.
Nauru whistleblowers have told a global women’s event in New York that Australia should be blocked from winning a seat on the influential UN body, because of systemic physical and sexual abuse in the island camps, and the international law violations of its indefinite detention regime.
Speaking at the Women in the World conference in New York – between the Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and the for- mer US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton – Nauru whistleblowers Viktoria Vibhakar and Alanna Maycock detailed abuses they witnessed in the camps and said Australia’s attempt to secure a seat on the council was inconsistent with running an offshore detention regime.
‘‘The Australian government could demonstrate its respect for human rights by evacuating these camps and bringing people to safety,’’ Vibhakar said. ‘‘If they were to do so, we would all applaud and support their bid. But this [human rights] council is supposed to protect and promote the very same human rights laws that Australian government’s detention camps so flagrantly violate.
‘‘I have seen the human rights violations myself, I have given hundreds of documents recording abuse to inquiries – the government cannot say it is unaware of the harm being perpetrated against people in these camps.
‘‘How can Australia’s bid be taken seriously in the face of such ongoing and unlawful treatment of vulnerable people?’’
Jennifer Robinson, Australian human rights lawyer and cofounder of the Hakawati Project, said Australia’s offshore detention regime had already been criticised by the council. But she said Australia was acutely sensitive to international pressure, especially as the council vote approached.
‘‘I think there’s hope for change … Australia reacts to international pressure.’’
At the council’s universal periodic review of Australia in 2015, when more than 100 countries commented on the country’s human rights record, many were critical of offshore detention.
Other arms of the UN, including the special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, and the UN committee against torture, have criticised offshore detention as unlawful. Guardian News & Media