Legal Advice Says Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse can Examine Nauru Regime

Human rights groups contradict Coalition’s claim that

responsibility for abuse lies with Nauraun government

and say Royal Commission can look at abuse allegations

 
 The president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs, agrees with other human rights bodies that an Australian royal commission can investigate matters in Nauru for which Australia is internationally responsible. Photograph: Alan Porritt/AAP

Ben Doherty and Paul Farrell

The Australian royal commission investigating institutional responses to child abuse has the power to examine allegations of abuse of asylum seeker and refugee children on Nauru, a consortium of human rights groups has said.

The publication of the Nauru files by Guardian Australia has revealed widespread and systemic abuse within the detention centre on the island, with children disproportionately represented among reports of physical and sexual abuse, privation, self-harm and suicide attempts.

See: Nauru Is. A Living Nightmare for Migrants, A Disgrace for Australia

The Australian government has consistently argued the detention regime is a matter for the Nauruan government.

The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, told ABC’s 7.30 on Thursday that the most serious claims in the Nauru files would be examined by his department but ultimate responsibility lay with Nauru.

Comparing Nauru to Guantánamo Bay is ridiculous, says Australian immigration minister
Peter Dutton plays down abuse allegations and says that as Nauru is not part of Australia they are an issue for the government there

“Nauru is not part of Australia so this is an issue for the Nauruan government,” he said.

Previously the royal commission had ruled it could not investigate events in another country, but on Friday a coalition of human rights groups publicly released legal advice it had previously provided to the commission arguing that the abuse within the Australian-run centre on Nauru fell within the commission’s jurisdiction.

The advice, prepared by barristers Kristen Walker QC and Simona Gory for the Human Rights Law Centre, was provided to the royal commission in July last year.

It argued that the Royal Commissions Act gave commissions the power to conduct extraterritorial investigations so long as they pertained to government.

“It is our view that the commission has jurisdiction to investigate the response of the commonwealth and its Australian contractors to allegations of child sex abuse at the centre,” they said.

The executive director of the law centre, Hugh de Kretser, said although the commission was doing vital work to prevent child abuse in Australia “at the very same time, the Australian government is warehousing children offshore in conditions that allow child abuse to thrive”.

“The advice says that while the royal commission can’t obviously go to Nauru and exercise coercive powers ... it can look at the response of the Australian government and its contractors to child sexual abuse,” he said.

Marc Purcell, from the Council for International Development, urged the commission to accept the advice. “There is commonwealth responsibility for the harm being caused to people on Nauru and children,” he said.

The president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs, said an Australian royal commission could investigate “matters in which Australia is internationally responsible”.

She said the commission should be extended to examine how Australia has managed the entire Nauru offshore processing regime.

“It is not good enough to say this is for another sovereign nation,” she said.

Hmmm. I wonder how that will go down in the halls of Parliament House? I think it's extremely important to investigate the deplorable conditions in Nauru, but I fear the Australian government may find a sudden shortfall in its finances requiring the shutting down of the Commission. 

The government does not want the facts to be dragged out in court for days and weeks. It does not want to be held legally and financially responsible for the horrors that are occurring there. And it has no plan B for dealing with migrants. For Australia to suddenly open its borders to rampant immigration like some European countries, would be cultural suicide, and that may be OK with Europeans, but it is not acceptable to Aussies.

Nauru Is. A Living Nightmare for Migrants, A Disgrace for Australia

New Nauru Files leak exposes horrifying abuse of kids at Australia’s island detention centers

Nauru regional processing facility. © DIAC images - / Wikipedia

The realities of Australia’s controversial method of dealing with refugees has been exposed in 8,000 pages of leaked documents that reveal systematic child abuse on Australia’s offshore detention island Nauru.

The Guardian received the leak from inside the detention system which exposes more than 2,000 reports detailing assault, sexual abuse, self harm and unfit living conditions, half of which concern children. It provides a damning case against the Australian government for failing to act on previous reports or to properly care for those under its detention.

While a 2015 investigation by the Australian Senate into the Nauru detention center revealed worrying conditions for refugees, including incidents of sexual assault and self-harm, new revelations provide a greater scale to the problems at the offshore site.

The leaks reveal 1,086 incidents involving children, who make up only 18 percent of Nauru’s 442 detainees. There are 59 reports of assault on children within the files.

Perhaps the most chilling reports come from incidents of children acting abnormally, likely as a result of trauma and their internment.

One girl sewed her mouth shut, and a guard reacted by laughing. Another girl pointed to her vagina and said a male detainee “cut her from under.”

Thirty cases of self-harm in children were reported, and over 150 cases of threatened self-harm in children.

In one incident, a teacher reported that a girl requested increased shower times. “Her request has been accepted on condition of sexual favours. It is a male security person. She did not state if this has or hasn’t occurred. The security officer wants to view a boy or girl having a shower,” the report reads.

The revelations coincide with the findings of the Australian Senate which revealed a number of attempted suicides and incidents of children self-harming. It also described overcrowding and unhygienic conditions in Nauru, with cases of typhoid and TB reported. Impetigo and lice along with vermin and insects have spread around the island.

Australia’s second detention island, Manus, holds more than 800 men. It too has seen controversy, with detainees reporting abuse and neglect. Australia’s Christmas Island also houses refugees and has seen riots, fires and hunger strikes by refugees attempting to protest conditions.

The three islands are difficult to access, and are known to be uninviting to reporters.

Doctors working in immigration centers challenged the Australian government’s Border Force Act in July, due to Section 42, which prevents “unauthorized disclosure” about camp conditions. Violators can face two years in prison if they break the rule.

“Doctors are obliged to put their patient’s interests above all other interests and to advocate for public health,” Dr Barri Phatafod said. “No one should expect any less from their doctor, or from the medical profession as a whole.”

A spokesperson from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection responded to the Nauru leak, telling the Guardian: “Alleged incidents within the regional processing centre are investigated and where appropriate referred to the Nauru police force (NPF) for investigation. Refugees living in the community are encouraged to report all incidents of assault to the NPF.”

“The Australian federal police has deployed officers to work alongside the NPF and build their capacity to investigate complex and sensitive incidents. Australia provides comprehensive medical support services to the regional processing centre in Nauru and to the Nauruan government health facilities.”