Around 2,000 people gathered at Hyde Park North today to protest against the indefinite detention of asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Islands by the Australian government. There are currently 52 children languishing in these detention camps. Many are suffering from mental and physical stress. The government has been accused by psychiatrists of ignoring evidence of the unfolding mental health crisis of children on Nauru.
Mandatory and indefinite imprisonment on these islands for refugees attempting to escape from persecution to Australia by boat has been a bipartisan policy of both the Liberal-National coalition and the Australian Labor Party for years.
Today’s speakers - including Reverend Rod Bowers, lawyer George Newhouse, Hazara community leader Najeeba Wadefadost and Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Collective - all denounced the major parties for their cruel approach to asylum seeker policy, which is increasingly being looked to as a model by right-wing and far right governments around the world.
Recently, 6,000 Australian doctors signed an open letter calling for children to be removed from these camps. Médicins Sans Frontierés was recently removed from Nauru, having also called for the immediate evacuation of all asylum seekers from detention on Nauru. The United Nations has condemned Australia’s policy on refugees and asylum seekers, calling it ‘unlawful’.
Pressure is mounting on the Australian government as the next Federal election approaches and as its refugee policies come under increasing scrutiny. Further rallies are planned in the coming weeks and months.
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