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‘We are dead souls in living bodies’: Australia accused of abusing refugees

Source: CNN

By Ben Westcott and Judy Kwon, CNN

(CNN)Australia is deliberately abusing refugees in an offshore detention camp to try to stop people seeking asylum in their country by boat, human rights groups claim in a new report.

Daily violence, suicide attempts and children left without medical treatment were among some of the allegations documented by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch during a visit to Australia’s detention center on the remote Pacific Island of Nauru in July.
Human Rights Watch Children’s Rights Division senior counsel Michael Bochenek was one of two researchers who visited the island with a legal visa, but without notifying authorities directly of his intent or who he worked for.
“In my experience there is no other developed country that I can think of who has pursued this course of conduct with people who are fleeing persecution, who are seeking freedom, who are accused of no crime,” Bochenek told CNN.
“There is no parallel for this.”
The rights groups said the Australian government was well aware of the issues on Nauru and appeared to be using them to deter other potential asylum seekers.
However, Australian officials said they had not been contacted about the allegations and strongly denied “many” of them.
“We would strongly encourage Amnesty International to contact the Department before airing allegations of this kind. The Department strongly refutes many of the allegations in the report,” said an Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection spokesman. He didn’t specify which ones.
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Categories: Australia, refugees, The Muslim Times

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