Five detainees on the South Pacific island of Nauru—including two unaccompanied minors—have stitched their lips together in response to the arrangement signed last Friday for Australia to palm off unwanted refugees to Cambodia in exchange for more than £21.5 million in development aid, according to Ian Rintoul, spokesman for the Refugee Action Coalition.
"Inside the detention center there's really just despair and desperation," Rintoul told VICE. He explained that a 400-person demonstration went on late into Sunday night in the offshore asylum facility on Nauru, during which the detainees sewed their mouths shut. As he said, this is due to Cambodia's inadequate ability to provide for refugees. "It’s not a workable solution for anyone on Nauru," he added. "How many more statements do we need about the poverty and human rights issues there?”
Scott Morrison, the Australian Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, was in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh to sign the agreement last week, while about 100 protesters gathered outside the Australian embassy. Shortly after Morrison drained his champagne flute, a 14-year-old girl and a 24-year-old man also sewed their lips together during a 500-strong protest on Nauru. Another man is believed to be in serious condition after cutting his own throat. The ABC reports that a 16-year-old has attempted suicide by drinking laundry detergent.
Australian Prime Minster Tony Abbott and Morrison are the figureheads of a relentless “stop-the-boats” crusade. Despite being a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, no asylum seekers can currently be resettled on mainland Australia and all refugee-processing arrangements are outsourced to detention centers on Manus Island, Papa New Guinea, and Nauru. Under the military-led “Operation Sovereign Borders," launched in September 2013, Australia's navy has been put to use dragging boats of would-be asylum seekers back in to international waters. The UN’s Refugee Agency has described Australia’s latest maneuver as “a worrying departure from international norms” that could set a “disturbing precedent." Full story...
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"Inside the detention center there's really just despair and desperation," Rintoul told VICE. He explained that a 400-person demonstration went on late into Sunday night in the offshore asylum facility on Nauru, during which the detainees sewed their mouths shut. As he said, this is due to Cambodia's inadequate ability to provide for refugees. "It’s not a workable solution for anyone on Nauru," he added. "How many more statements do we need about the poverty and human rights issues there?”
Scott Morrison, the Australian Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, was in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh to sign the agreement last week, while about 100 protesters gathered outside the Australian embassy. Shortly after Morrison drained his champagne flute, a 14-year-old girl and a 24-year-old man also sewed their lips together during a 500-strong protest on Nauru. Another man is believed to be in serious condition after cutting his own throat. The ABC reports that a 16-year-old has attempted suicide by drinking laundry detergent.
Australian Prime Minster Tony Abbott and Morrison are the figureheads of a relentless “stop-the-boats” crusade. Despite being a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, no asylum seekers can currently be resettled on mainland Australia and all refugee-processing arrangements are outsourced to detention centers on Manus Island, Papa New Guinea, and Nauru. Under the military-led “Operation Sovereign Borders," launched in September 2013, Australia's navy has been put to use dragging boats of would-be asylum seekers back in to international waters. The UN’s Refugee Agency has described Australia’s latest maneuver as “a worrying departure from international norms” that could set a “disturbing precedent." Full story...
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