Australia ignoring abuse at refugee camps
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SYDNEY- Human rights groups accused Australia on Wednesday of deliberately ignoring the alleged abuse of asylum seekers being held at a remote Pacific island detention facility in a bid to deter future refugees from trying to reach the country by boat.
A scathing joint report by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said detainees on the Pacific island nation of Nauru, where Australia sends asylum seekers, are routinely denied critical medical care, frequently attempt suicide and endure physical assaults by locals on the island.
"Australia's policy of exiling asylum seekers who arrive by boat is cruel in the extreme," Anna Neistat, senior director for research at Amnesty International, said in a statement. "Few other countries go to such lengths to deliberately inflict suffering on people seeking safety and freedom."
