Self-harm acts in Australia detention camps nearing crisis level
Incidents of self-harm among asylum seekers held in Australia’s controversial detention centers are reaching crisis levels, new media reports say.
According to the Fairfax Media report, desperate inmates including children are increasingly resorting to extreme measures to take their own lives.
Under its hardline immigration policy, Australia sends asylum-seekers to the Pacific islands of Papua New Guinea and Nauru for processing.
They are barred from being resettled in Australia even if found to be refugees.
The report found there were 188 self-harm incidents involving asylum seekers in Nauru in the 12 months to July 2015.
Slamming their bloody heads against walls, slicing their stomach with raw razors, stuffing tea bags down their throats and swallowing chemicals are among the awful acts of self-harm.
Logs obtained from Australia’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection showed self-harm acts in a 12-month period ending in July 2015 have reached epidemic levels.
A total of 1,459 asylum-seekers were being held on Manus Island and Nauru at the end of 2015, according to immigration figures.
Self-harm cases in the onshore detention network stood at 706, almost two incidents per day, over the same 12-month period.
One of the more severe cases of self-harm inflictions involves an Iraqi asylum seeker identified as Mohammad Albederee.
He has been on a hunger strike for more than six months at the Manus Island detention center. He believes he is near death.
Australia’s Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has described the situation as unacceptable and alarming.
“The fact that children are so traumatized that they’re resorting to shocking acts of self-harm is appalling.”
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