Of roaches, and forgotten dreams
Dozens of migrant children are being held against their will for months and even years by the Australian authorities in a detention center for refugees located in Nauru, in the middle of the Pacific - a place merely the size of 21 square kilometers, CNN has reported.
The kids unequivocally describe that place as a prison. They are forced to live behind fences, they are searched every time they enter or exit the camp, including on their way to school. They feel threatened and abused by the omnipresent supervisors. But most of all, they are depressed by the lack of any hope in life, and the sense of their fading dreams of decent education and a better life beyond the confines of that tiny island.
While Europe is toiling under the weight of the flood of refugees coming by land and sea, Australia has long led a controversial and unorthodox policy. They prefer to intercept the boats that are approaching the Australian shores, and then send the refugees to small and relatively poor Pacific nations to cope with the problem in their stead.
The Australian government reports that between 2007 and 2013 at least 1200 people have lost their life trying to reach Australia by sea, and thousands have been stuck in the country's migration system. The government says it is trying to send a clear message to potential asylum seekers that if they board a boat for Australia, there is no way in the world that they would be allowed to settle there.
Since 2012, the refugees who have come in boats are being sent for registration to one of the two camps, in Nauru and the Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. After their asylum applications are reviewed, they are left in those places, and some of them might get a chance to relocate to another country, which is... wait for it... Cambodia. This deterrent to potential asylum seekers, the government claims, has worked efficiently. They claim they have successfully interrupted the human trafficking wave.
According to Australian government data, towards the end of last year 537 refugees were being kept in Nauru, including 68 children. The list of their nationalities includes some of the most war-torn regions of the world, like Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. The Nauruan government is managing the refugee camp with Australia's support and some aid from private contractors. The families live there in tents, without air conditioning - in a country that is known for its year-round heat waves. Footage showing refugees living in tents with ceilings covered in mold and surrounded by rusty fences and cockroaches have circulated the media.
The problem, apart from the obvious destruction of any hopes for a future, is that security in those camps has always been questionable, to put it mildly. In 2015 the Australian government has registered cases of sexual and physical assault, including against children, both the refugees themselves and the supervising staff being the suspected perpetrators. A 2014 human rights committee investigation has concluded that "the children in Nauru are subject to extreme levels of psychological, emotional and physical distress during their individual development". The committee recommends that all those families should be moved from Nauru to mainland Australia within a month. Which, of course, given Australia's record of putting its interests above human rights (what with the Stolen Generation and all that), is certainly not going to happen any time soon.
The kids unequivocally describe that place as a prison. They are forced to live behind fences, they are searched every time they enter or exit the camp, including on their way to school. They feel threatened and abused by the omnipresent supervisors. But most of all, they are depressed by the lack of any hope in life, and the sense of their fading dreams of decent education and a better life beyond the confines of that tiny island.
While Europe is toiling under the weight of the flood of refugees coming by land and sea, Australia has long led a controversial and unorthodox policy. They prefer to intercept the boats that are approaching the Australian shores, and then send the refugees to small and relatively poor Pacific nations to cope with the problem in their stead.
The Australian government reports that between 2007 and 2013 at least 1200 people have lost their life trying to reach Australia by sea, and thousands have been stuck in the country's migration system. The government says it is trying to send a clear message to potential asylum seekers that if they board a boat for Australia, there is no way in the world that they would be allowed to settle there.
Since 2012, the refugees who have come in boats are being sent for registration to one of the two camps, in Nauru and the Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. After their asylum applications are reviewed, they are left in those places, and some of them might get a chance to relocate to another country, which is... wait for it... Cambodia. This deterrent to potential asylum seekers, the government claims, has worked efficiently. They claim they have successfully interrupted the human trafficking wave.
According to Australian government data, towards the end of last year 537 refugees were being kept in Nauru, including 68 children. The list of their nationalities includes some of the most war-torn regions of the world, like Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. The Nauruan government is managing the refugee camp with Australia's support and some aid from private contractors. The families live there in tents, without air conditioning - in a country that is known for its year-round heat waves. Footage showing refugees living in tents with ceilings covered in mold and surrounded by rusty fences and cockroaches have circulated the media.
The problem, apart from the obvious destruction of any hopes for a future, is that security in those camps has always been questionable, to put it mildly. In 2015 the Australian government has registered cases of sexual and physical assault, including against children, both the refugees themselves and the supervising staff being the suspected perpetrators. A 2014 human rights committee investigation has concluded that "the children in Nauru are subject to extreme levels of psychological, emotional and physical distress during their individual development". The committee recommends that all those families should be moved from Nauru to mainland Australia within a month. Which, of course, given Australia's record of putting its interests above human rights (what with the Stolen Generation and all that), is certainly not going to happen any time soon.