Culture

“Detention Has Ended”: Nauru Is Processing 600 Asylum Seekers This Week, But What Happens Next?

This news isn't really as great as it sounds.

by Meg Watson  5 October 2015

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This post discusses sexual assault.

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After years of detention which has resulted in allegations of sexual abuse, child abuse, and many mental health issues which have led to self-harm and suicide, Australia’s offshore asylum seeker processing site in Nauru is now being classed as an “open centre”. Announced over the weekend by the Nauru government, the 6pm curfew that had been in place has been scrapped to allow detainees to freely roam the island 24 hours a day. But today, they’ve gone one step further.

In a press release confirming the news, the Minister of the Department of Justice and Border Control David Adeang has committed to processing all remaining 600 asylum seekers within the next week. Stating this is something his government has been “working towards for a long time”, Adeang claims they were “waiting on confirmation of Australia’s assistance in the transition”. Now that Australia are reportedly on board, the changes are going ahead and we’ll be providing more support for their outside community in the form of healthcare and police assistance.

“The start of detention-free processing is a landmark day for Nauru and represents an even more compassionate program, which was always the intention of our Government,” Adeang said in the statement.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has since confirmed the news in a brief statement which predictably hasn’t revealed very much.

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Firstly, Where The Hell Did This Come From?

Changing the Nauru facility to an “open centre” has been on the cards for a while. First announced by Peter Dutton in February — more than two years since the site’s re-opening — the idea was suggested as a means to promote exposure to the local community. More than 500 asylum seekers had been resettled on the island with a five-year visa in 2013, and it was suggested this larger environment would be beneficial to those still in detention.

“An open centre will give transferees more opportunities to engage with the Nauruan community before their refugee processing has been completed,” Dutton said in his announcement. “[It will] allow genuine refugees to ultimately integrate seamlessly into the community.”

As a result, detainees have been permitted to leave the facility during set hours over the past few months.

However, this has all been alongside a staggering barrage of allegations of mistreatment. Condemnation of the treatment of asylum seekers on Nauru has reached a critical mass over the past couple of months, with a senate inquiry finding the facilities “not adequate, appropriate or safe for the asylum seekers detained there”. Submissions and investigations to this report have discovered tents not approved for human shelter infested with mould, insects and rodents; inappropriate and threatening behaviour from security staff; child abuse; sexual assault and rape; and little recourse to aid or justice.

“The committee is deeply concerned that without this inquiry, the allegations heard and evidence received would not have been uncovered,” the report read. “There appears to be no other pathway for those affected by what they have seen and experienced in the Regional Processing Centre (RPC) on Nauru to disclose allegations of mistreatment, abuse or to make complaints.”

“Australia created the Regional Processing Centre in Nauru. It is Australia’s responsibility and in its present form, it is unsupportable.”

This decision to finalise the change to an open centre comes just two days before a High Court challenge to the legality of Australia’s mandatory detention system. Run by the Human Rights Law Centre and championed by a group of asylum seekers receiving medical treatment in Australia, the case is set to question the constitutional and legal validity of holding people in offshore sites at all.

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Will The Change Actually Do Any Good?

Yes and no! The change to an open centre was listed as a recommendation in the aforementioned Senate inquiry report and it has the potential to really help the mental health of those currently detained. We’ve heard first-hand of the myriad effects this kind of imprisonment can have on asylum seekers, and any step towards freedom and autonomy should not be overlooked.

However, there are a number of important questions which still need to be addressed in order to contextualise the news. Will any of the other recommendations from the report be addressed? Will either the media or Human Rights Commission be permitted access to this newly “open” facility? Will anything be done to better help those already suffering the effects of their full detention? Also, where will they go? Will the conditions outside the detention facility be any better than those within?

That last one may in fact be the most crucial. In the past week alone, we’ve seen a number of reports of asylum seekers being subjected to horrific violence and abuse while enjoying their ‘free time’ around the island. When returning to camp one night last week, two young Afghani and Pakistani men were accosted by a group of Nauruan men on motorbikes, and then mugged and beaten. “Nauru is like hell for refugees,” one of the victims said when recounting his story to Fairfax.

This situation was made even more graphic in a report by 7.30 last week. Drawing attention to the many women who claim to have been sexually abused on the island, they played a video recording from a 26-year-old Somali woman as she called the police alleging two Nauruan attacked and raped her in some bushes near the entrance to her camp. Warning: it’s just as distressing as it sounds.

This has all been well-noted by a number of refugee advocates, and has prevented the news from being celebrated as an outright success.

“A transition to an open centre would be an important and hard-won improvement, but letting people go for a walk does not resolve the fundamental problems caused by indefinitely warehousing them on a tiny remote island,” said Daniel Webb, director of the Human Rights Law Centre. “The men, women and children on Nauru need a real solution — settlement in a safe place where they can rebuild their lives. Instead they’re being left languishing in an environment that is clearly unsafe for women and children.”

Having been passionately outspoken on the issue before, Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has also added his voice to this chorus with a press release this afternoon.

“The announcement by the Nauru Government raises many more questions than answers,” he wrote. “For a start the centre is run by the Australian Government so how can the Nauru Government even make the promise to process the detainees? How on Earth can they do it legally and humanely with 600 people in just a week? How can a small homogenous society with such limited infrastructure and job prospects integrate such a large number of new and culturally diverse people? How can any guarantees be given for the safety of asylum seekers released into the community when so many have already suffered such shocking abuse at the hand of locals? And what about all the children currently in detention without their families?”

“I want people out of detention as much as anyone but this reported announcement by the Nauru Government is a recipe for anarchy and violence … The Australian Government needs to bring the detainees back to Australia, finalise their applications for protection and provide permanent refuge for those asylum seekers with legitimate claims.”

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton is appearing on Lateline tonight to hopefully clear things up, but I bet you 50 bucks his response has nothing to do with any of that.