Monday, January 18, 2016



A predictable outcome

How bad are Australia's refugee gulags? So bad that someone is trying to kill themselves every two days:

Incident logs from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection covering one year, obtained under freedom of information laws, paint a picture of depression, desperation and violence at Australia's domestic and overseas detention camps and in the community.

They raise fresh questions over the human rights implications of Australia's tough border protection regime, which has been condemned by the United Nations, and will fuel calls for children to be immediately released from detention.

The data shows that in the year to July 2015 there were 188 incidents of self-harm involving asylum seekers at Nauru, about one every two days. There were 55 such self-harm acts at Papua New Guinea's Manus Island.

They included detainees swallowing poisons, stuffing tea bags down their throats and hanging by bed sheets or other makeshift nooses.


Its even worse in their onshore detention camps, where there are an averag eof two self-harm incidents a day.

This is an entirely predictable outcome. Austrlaia's gulags are purposely designed to mentally torture detainees in an effort to force them to "voluntarily" return home. But faced with a choice between ongoing persecution in an Australian gulag, and persecution at home, it is not surprising that refugees are seeking the only escape available: death.

Every refugee who injures or kills themselves in these gulags was effectively injured or killed by Australian Ministers and their officials. Its the purpose of their policy, and they should be held accountable for it - by trying them for torture if they ever set foot in New Zealand.