Abuse reports reading aims to shame Australia

More than 2000 leaked incident reports from Australia’s detention camp for asylum seekers on Nauru will be read aloud in a 10-hour protest outside the Australian high commission in London.

Totalling more than 8000 pages, the personal accounts of sexual abuse, torture and humiliation inflicted on children held by Australia in offshore detention will be read by members of the International Alliance Against Mandatory Detention, which has organised the event.

‘‘We want Australia to be internationally shamed,’’ said coorganiser Sarah Keenan. ‘‘We want everyone to hear these documented incidents of abuse, selfharm, humiliation and squalor that is the everyday life for refugees on Nauru.’’

The Nauru files – the largest cache of leaked documents released from inside Australia’s immigration regime – set out as never before the assaults, sexual abuse, self-harm attempts, child abuse and living conditions endured by asylum seekers held by the Australian government. The picture they paint is one of routine dysfunction and deliberate cruelty.

‘‘These detainees must be settled in the Australian community, as is their right under international law,’’ said Nadine El-Enany, another co-organiser.

‘‘We have chosen to read the report out in front of Australia House because this narrative of abuse directly contradicts the image the Australian high commission seeks to convey of Australia as a progressive nation and a desirable destination.

‘‘Nauru Files Reading embodies the ongoing racist violence that has defined the settler colony of Australia since its inception.’’

The protest is timed to coincide with a national day of action in Australia, with events planned across the country to demand that the government immediately close the camps on Nauru, Manus Island and Christmas Island.

More than half of the 2116 reports involve children, although children made up only about 18 per cent of those in detention on Nauru during the time covered by the reports, May 2013 to October 2015.

The files highlight serious concerns about the ongoing risks to children and adults held on the island.