Australian camps hit by claims of refugee abuse

MORE than 2 000 leaked reports detailing allegations of sexual assault, child abuse and self-harm in Australian immigration centres on Nauru were published yesterday, prompting rights groups to renew calls for refugees to be resettled elsewhere.

Under Canberra’s current policy, asylum-seekers arriving by boat are sent to the remote Pacific island nation of Nauru or to Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island.

They will not be allowed to resettle in Australia even if they eventually win refugee status.

While the flow of asylum boats to Australia has dried up, some 442 people remain on tiny Nauru and almost double that on Manus.

The incident reports leaked to The Guardian Australia include allegations that asylum-seekers, including children, on Nauru face assaults, sexual abuse and mental distress.

The reports allege incidents such as guards threatening a boy with death and allowing a young woman a longer shower only in return for sexual favours.

Mental stress caused by prolonged detention was deemed to be the cause of alleged cases of self-harm, including a woman trying to hang herself and a girl sewing her lips together.

One girl wrote in her school book in 2014 that she was tired, did not like camp and wanted to die. The report said she had written: “I want DEATH” and “I need death”.

The Guardian said the reports, published in redacted form to remove identifiers, written by staff in the detention centre, were the largest cache of leaked documents from inside Australia’s immigration regime.

The Guardian said its analysis of the 2 116 reports showed that children were the subject of more than half of them.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the material would be examined to see if there were any complaints or issues that were not properly addressed.

But the government stressed the reports were allegations, not findings of fact, adding Canberra would continue to support Nauru to provide for the welfare of those on the island. – AFP