The Albanese Government can end 10 years of engineered cruelty
The Human Rights Law Centre is calling on the Albanese Government to end 10 years of calculated, cruel policies inflicted on people who came to Australia seeking safety.
A decade ago today, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced he would not allow any person seeking asylum by sea to settle in Australia. Thousands of people were subsequently sent to detention camps in Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
In Nauru and Papua New Guinea, the Australian Government oversaw torturous conditions of detention, the separation of families, grossly inadequate medical treatment, sexual abuse, and failures of care for children. The decision resulted in irreparable physical and mental harm and ultimately, the deaths of at least 14 people.
After powerful resistance from refugees, the last remaining people detained under Australia's offshore detention policy were evacuated from Nauru. However, the Albanese Government has confirmed that it will continue to keep the detention centre in Nauru open.
The Albanese Government refuse to evacuate 80 people, who were previously detained on Manus Island from Papua New Guinea, and continues to deny thousands of people their right to safe, permanent resettlement.
The Human Rights Law Centre will join demonstrations across the country to call on the Albanese Government to:
End offshore detention;
Evacuate the 80 people still in Papua New Guinea
Provide permanent safety to all people affected by offshore detention and the flawed “Fast Track” process.
Sanmati Verma, Managing Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre:
“In offshore detention, the Australian government designed a system of calculated cruelty which is now being exported to other parts of the world, to torture and punish people seeking safety.
“Every person sent to Nauru or PNG has lost years of their lives and been separated from loved ones because of the intentionally punitive policies of successive Australian governments. The Albanese Government must end offshore detention, evacuate the 80 people stranded in PNG, and give these people who have resisted the Australian Government’s brutality, their right to make a safe and permanent home here.
“Uncertain visa status has been weaponised to further punish people who have been transferred to Australia, to compel them to accept resettlement in third countries or return home. The Albanese government must recognise people’s right to rebuild their lives in safety and in freedom.”
Media Contact:
Thomas Feng
Media and Communications Manager
Human Rights Law Centre
0431 285 275
thomas.feng@hrlc.org.au