The New York Times Has Slammed Australia’s Treatment Of Refugees As “A Disgrace”

The editorial board at The New York Times has penned a damning editorial about Australia’s policy of offshore detention. In a piece published yesterday, the board slams Australia for breaching the 1951 Refugee Convention “which forbids transferring refugees to a place where they are likely to face harm and protects the right of people fleeing persecution to seek a safe haven,” and calls on the Australian government to end the “cruel and indefinite detention” of asylum seekers.

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“This policy costs Australian taxpayers a staggering $419,000 per detainee a year and has made a nation that has historically welcomed immigrants a violator of international law,” reads the editorial. “While the number of refugees held on Nauru and Manus Island is small compared with refugee numbers in the Middle East and Europe, Australia’s inhumane imprisonment of desperate people is a disgrace.”

Drawing on a recent report by Amnesty International, the Times outlines the horrific conditions faced by people in offshore detention. “Suicide attempts among refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru have become disturbingly common,” it explains. “Among the 58 refugees and asylum seekers Amnesty International interviewed, most said they experienced severe emotional distress.”

The article also criticises the Australian and Nauruan government for their secrecy surrounding offshore detention, and says that the United Nations should be pressuring Australia to change its policy.

This isn’t the first time The New York Times has gotten stuck in to Australia for our treatment of refugees. An editorial in the paper last year labelled the government’s policies “inexcusable” and “unconscionable”, while in May columnist Roger Cohen described them as “textbook rules for the administering of cruelty.”

Even so, the fact that one of America’s biggest papers has taken the time during the height of the US election to draw attention to this issue is no small thing. And let’s be honest: the more pressure put on Australia both at home and abroad over this, the better.

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Feature image via Amnesty International.