UN asks Australia to compensate for violating rights of asylum seekers
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The Human Rights Committee urged Australia to provide adequate compensation to the refugees and take measures to prevent similar violations in the future.
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A silhouette of migrants walking at sunset, undated. (AFP)
A UN panel ruled that Australia violated the human rights of asylum seekers detained on Nauru, ordering compensation.
The Human Rights Committee found Australia breached two provisions of the human rights treaty in cases involving 24 refugees, including minors, detained in 2013 while attempting to enter by boat, causing years of arbitrary detention.
“A state party cannot escape its human rights responsibility when outsourcing asylum processing to another state,” committee member Mahjoub El Haiba said.
Over a decade ago, Australia implemented a hardline immigration policy, sending asylum seekers intercepted at sea to detention camps on Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island for “offshore processing” instead of permitting them to live in the country as refugees.
El Haiba noted that the “offshore detention facilities are not human rights free zones for the state party, which remains bound by the provisions of the covenant.”
Canberra violated two provisions: Arbitrary detention and refugees' rights
The UN panel ruled that Canberra violated two provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, related to arbitrary detention and refugees' right to challenge their detention in court. The ruling followed a 2016 petition by unaccompanied minor asylum seekers held in overcrowded, poorly-resourced detention centers.
On Thursday, the committee ruled that almost all the minors suffered from deterioration of physical and mental well-being, including "self-harm, depression, kidney problems, insomnia, headaches, memory problems, and weight loss".
Australia argued there was no evidence the alleged violations occurred within its jurisdiction. However, the committee ruled that the Nauru camp fell under Australia's jurisdiction, citing the country's role in its construction and financing.
Second case
In a second case, the committee found that an Iranian refugee held in a Nauru camp was also subjected to arbitrary detention. The woman, along with her family, arrived by boat on Christmas Island in 2013 but was transferred to Nauru seven months later.
Despite being recognized as a refugee by Nauru in 2017, she was not released. A year later, she was transferred to Australia for medical reasons but remained in detention.
The UN committee urged Australia to compensate the victims and ensure that similar violations do not occur again.
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On a related note, human rights organizations reported that at least 12 refugees and asylum seekers have died in Australian immigration detention centers on Manus and Nauru, due to causes such as guard violence, suicide, or medical neglect.
Human Rights Watch has said Australia forcibly transferred more than 3,000 asylum seekers to the camps where they suffered severe abuse, inhumane treatment, and medical neglect.
