The Nauru files

Written By: - Date published: 10:37 am, August 10th, 2016 - 20 comments
Categories: human rights, International - Tags: , , ,

Once again a whistleblower / leaker has done the world a service. Shame on Australia. The Guardian:

The Nauru files: 2,000 leaked reports reveal scale of abuse of children in Australian offshore detention

Exclusive: The largest cache of documents to be leaked from within Australia’s asylum seeker detention regime details assaults, sexual assaults and self-harm

Read the Nauru files in a unique database

The devastating trauma and abuse inflicted on children held by Australia in offshore detention has been laid bare in the largest cache of leaked documents released from inside its immigration regime.

More than 2,000 leaked incident reports from Australia’s detention camp for asylum seekers on the remote Pacific island of Nauru – totalling more than 8,000 pages – are published by the Guardian today. The Nauru files 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, painting a picture of routine dysfunction and cruelty.

The Guardian’s analysis of the files reveal that children are vastly over-represented in the reports. More than half of the 2,116 reports – a total of 1,086 incidents, or 51.3% – involve children, although children made up only about 18% of those in detention on Nauru during the time covered by the reports, May 2013 to October 2015. …

It’s a long and immensely depressing read. Bloody hell.

20 comments on “The Nauru files ”

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  1. save nz 1
    10 August 2016 at 11:02 am

    The plight of the Nauru refugees is heartbreaking stuff.

    Not only that the conditions they are kept in, what hope is there for their mental state when they finally leave, if they do?

    I hope criminal cases are bought against those (including politicians) that help keep that hell hole running.

    It is going to be like the stolen Aboriginal children – Australia has more blood on their history and why with international human rights is it being allowed?

  2. Siobhan 2
    10 August 2016 at 12:13 pm

    “We are providing every incentive to the people on Nauru to go back to their country of origin. We are providing them with considerable incentives and assistance to do that. We are providing them with incentives to settle in other countries.”…Malcolm Turnbull, Feb. 2016.
    “Incentives” such as rape, physical and mental abuse.

    • Macro 2.1
      10 August 2016 at 3:26 pm

      “We are providing every incentive to the people on Nauru to go back to their country of origin. ”

      Where they can be raped, tortured and murdered.

      Almost all of these Asylum seekers have proven to be of genuine refugee status seeking refuge from exactly the abuse they now find themselves in on Nauru and Manus Island.

  3. Anno1701 3
    10 August 2016 at 12:13 pm

    Nauru is a pretty sh*#ty place in general TBH

  4. RedLogix 4
    10 August 2016 at 12:17 pm

    This is the downside of living in Australia … knowing this govt is capable of this shit, you wonder what else they might do.

    The average Aussie is really torn on this. They know what is happening in these camps is wrong, but equally it seems to have stopped the boats. If there is one thing clear from the USA and Europe, losing control of your borders is not a sane option.

    • Macro 4.1
      10 August 2016 at 3:51 pm

      The fact is Red that under the The Universal Declaration of Human Rights – to which Australia is a signatory

      Article 14.

      (1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

      So if asylum seekers arrive on Australia’s door step it is Australia’s responsibility to provide that refuge until such time as they are accepted as genuine refugees and assimilated into the country or on to the country which will accommodate them or they are returned to their country of origin.
      In housing these asylum seekers it is Australia’s responsibility to ensure that IAW:

      Article 5.

      No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

      Australia and the officials dealing with border control are treading a very fine line and have obviously crossed that line on adherence to the UDofHR . They should be prosecuted.

    • Siobhan 4.2
      10 August 2016 at 4:12 pm

      “The average Aussie is really torn on this. They know what is happening in these camps is wrong, but equally it seems to have stopped the boats.”.

      So the ends justifies the means?? Even if the camps were run along vaguely humane lines, I’m not really sure that what is happening in Nauru is a very sane option either. Nor the moral option. Nor is it the legal option. It is very hard to blame the Australian Government if the average person in Australia is buying into the idea that Nauru is some sort of necessary evil.

      The thing I find odd is the claim that keeping journalists out of the camps ‘helps stop boats’ as journalists would pass on secrets to people smugglers, yet surely if Nauru is meant as a deterrent they would encourage coverage?

      https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jun/14/keeping-journalists-out-of-detention-centres-helps-stop-asylum-boats-mathias-cormann-bill-shorten-election

    • spikeyboy 4.3
      11 August 2016 at 8:08 am

      The simple answer is to stop supporting US wars of aggression in the countries that they come from. If you support bombing their homes how can you be surprised when they come knocking on your door asking for somewhere to live?

  5. Brigid 5
    10 August 2016 at 1:23 pm

    My relations in Aussie say the average Australian doesn’t give a shit about refugees.

    • Macro 5.1
      10 August 2016 at 3:35 pm

      Sadly that is so true….
      And the treatment of the indigenous population is equally appalling.
      I never realised until a few weeks ago that if you were a person born in Australia and you held a heritage of 40,000 years occupation, you were not considered worthy of citizenship until after 1957 (and then only if you were a person who might be presented to the Queen or some such). Even today Aboriginal communities may not own the land nor the houses in which they live – and they wonder why they have “delinquent” youth!

      • AmaKiwi 5.1.1
        11 August 2016 at 7:47 pm

        John Pilger has done two excellent documentaries on what he calls the worst case of genocide in our times. I highly recommend them.

    • TC 5.2
      10 August 2016 at 4:45 pm

      Yup and Abbott promised to stop the boats which they did so the average aussie thinks all is fine.

      This is a country that still posesses laws which allow for you to be held in custody, indefinitely without charge.

  7. One Anonymous Bloke 7
    10 August 2016 at 5:11 pm

    The only reason the National Party isn’t doing this is that NZ’s remote location denies them the opportunity.

    • weston 7.1
      10 August 2016 at 8:31 pm

      I dont think so i think there would be a nation wide riot if they tried that shit over here

    • NickS 7.2
      11 August 2016 at 1:40 pm

      Well, in their favour they have offered numerous times to take refugees imprisoned on Nauru, but both ALP and the Coalition refused them.

      Apparently because we’re “too close”.

    • AmaKiwi 7.3
      11 August 2016 at 7:49 pm

      If we had this problem, National would probably put the refugees on White Island!

      “They died of natural causes: sulfur fumes.”

  8. John r 8
    10 August 2016 at 6:24 pm

    It just confirms my opinion that Australians are a detestable race of people, and I certainly don’t buy Australian. Also check out the crap that is going down over Norfolk Is

    • AmaKiwi 8.1
      11 August 2016 at 7:52 pm

      John r

      A personal note: Some years ago my partner and I both had job offers in 2 states in Australia. We went over for a serious investigation. No thanks. Too much like Texas. John Wayne mentality.