Australia has violated the rights of asylum seekers arbitrarily detained on the island of Nauru, the United Nations watchdog has ruled, issuing a warning to other countries looking to outsource asylum procedures.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has announced judgments in two cases involving 25 refugees and asylum seekers who endured years of arbitrary detention in the island nation.
“State parties cannot escape their human rights responsibilities when outsourcing asylum procedures to other countries,” said Committee member Mahjoub El-Haiba.
Under hard-line policies introduced more than a decade ago, Australia has sent thousands of people trying to enter the country by boat to detention camps on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, a small Pacific nation further north-west. .
Victims in both cases have filed complaints with a United Nations panel of 18 independent experts, accusing Australia of violating their rights under international covenants, particularly with respect to arbitrary detention.
Australia rejected the allegations, arguing that the human rights abuses that occurred on Nauru were not within Australia's jurisdiction.
However, the UN committee highlighted Australia's contribution to arranging the establishment of a regional processing center in Nauru and contributing to its operation and management.
Elhaiba said Australia had jurisdiction because it had “significant control and influence over Nauru's regional processing facilities”.
Several European countries are considering the possibility of similar arrangements to outsource immigration policy.
Britain's plan for Rwanda was ultimately abandoned after courts and a change of government ruled it illegal, while Italy's plan to detain asylum seekers in centers in Albania was ruled last year by a court to comply with European Union law. They raised questions and faced problems.
Thursday's decision “sends a clear message to all countries that where there is power and effective control, there is responsibility,” Elhaiba said.
“Outsourcing does not absolve states of their responsibility. Maritime detention facilities are not human rights-free zones.”
The first case investigated by the committee involved 24 unaccompanied minors who were captured at sea by Australia and transferred to an overcrowded regional processing center in Nauru in 2014.
Thursday's statement said they were being held in “conditions with inadequate water supplies and sanitation, heat and humidity, and inadequate medical care.”
“Nearly all of these minors suffer from poor physical and mental health conditions, including self-harm, depression, kidney problems, insomnia, headaches, memory problems, and weight loss.”
The commission said Australia had failed to justify why the minors could not be transferred to centers on the mainland more suitable for vulnerable populations.
The committee separately assessed the case of an Iranian asylum seeker who arrived on Christmas Island by boat with several family members in August 2013 and was transferred to Nauru seven months later.
The woman was recognized as a refugee by Nauru authorities in 2017 but was not released. The commission said she was transferred to Australia for medical reasons in November 2018, but remains detained in various Australian facilities.
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It ruled that Australia had failed to show that the woman's long and indefinite detention was justified.
The committee called on Australia to compensate victims and take steps to prevent similar violations from happening again.
Although the commission does not have the authority to force states to comply with its decisions, its decisions carry reputational weight.
In its correspondence with the UN committee, the Australian government said the allegations were unacceptable because Australia was not responsible for the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees on Nauru.
However, it said it was “working closely” with the Nauru government to “support the delivery of health, welfare and support services”.
Guardian Australia has contacted the Australian Department of Home Affairs for comment.
Asylum Seeker Resource Center deputy chief executive Yana Favero said the Human Rights Commission's decision “understands what we have always said is that Australia has a duty of care and responsibility to people seeking safety. “It confirms what was true and what has been abundantly clear for 10 years.” on our shores. ”
He said successive Australian governments had tried to avoid responsibility by deporting people.
“Men, women, children and families have all suffered and continue to suffer at the hands of Australian politicians who are obsessed with punishing those seeking safety and acting as if sending people overseas ends their responsibilities. There is.”
A processing center in Nauru remains Australia's only “permanent” offshore facility after a detention center on Papua New Guinea's remote Manus Island was ordered closed by the country's highest court.
Australia's marine processing policies and practices have been consistently criticized by the United Nations, human rights groups and refugees themselves.
At least 12 people have died in the camp, including being murdered by guards, being denied medical attention, and committing suicide. Psychiatrists sent there described the conditions as “inherently toxic” and akin to “torture.”
