Nauru - Australia's dumping ground for refugees
What's up everyone! If you're new to my blog, welcome to Breakfast at Bridget's! To read my previous posts, just click on the links in the blog archive (just click the three lines on the top left corner). Anyway, hi again! It's your girl Brianna and today's post is about the treatment of refugees in Australia.
Just before I continue, many of you are probably wondering why I suddenly disappeared from cyberspace and maybe mad at me for not updating for weeks. About that...I don't really have a valid reason for you so all I can do is apologise. Sorry. I know I am always tardy and I am really lazy but I will work hard for you. Please don't leave.
"We are told that Australia is the “lucky country”. A country where our most attractive asset is our multicultural community and diverse society. In our anthem, we sing: “for those who come across the seas, we’ve boundless plains to share”. Ironically, it is in the second verse which we hardly ever sing. Perhaps this reveals the true attitude Australia has towards asylum seekers." - Sayomi Ariyawansa (Futureleaderscom.au. (2017). Futureleaderscom.au. Retrieved 13 May, 2017, from http://www.futureleaders.com.au/young_writers/pdf/What_Difference_Writing/Sayomi_Ariyawansa.pdf)
It's not new news when it comes to the treatment of refugees Australia detention centres. Australia has used Nauru twice - and its beholden and broke government - as a remote site for the "offshore processing" of people who seek asylum and protection. People who flee from countries which are persecuting them, escaping for their lives. Australia's mandatory detention policy means that asylum seekers are locked in a detention centre until they are processed, which mind you takes years. The government always tell us that these people are a burden that we don't want, and the best way to stop them is to show them that Australia is not an open country and will not accept everyone.
Currently, our system abuses and psychologically damages innocent people and goes against UN conventions. The UN requires host countries to treat asylum seekers with dignity and respect while their claims for asylum are processed. In its latest report, the UN's Committee on the Rights of the Child outlined the "cramped, humid and life-threatening conditions" the children are exposed in the centres, including reported restrictions on drinking water. The report also highlighted the "inhuman and degrading treatment, including physical, psychological and sexual abuse, against asylum seeking and refugee children living in the Regional Processing Centres."
These poor humans are barely holding on to their remaining fragment of humanity and dignity. Conditions in detention centres are extremely harsh with beds without mattresses, toilets without doors and showers with curtains. Australia's detention centres are offensive to human dignity. The care of asylum seekers seen in detention on Manus and Nauru are inherently toxic and the immigration department are deliberately harming vulnerable detainees in a process similar to torture. Thousands of women, men and children suffer severe abuse, inhumane treatment and neglect. In many cases, females were sexually harassed in exchange for having three minutes longer in the shower.
"Since then I have not slept even one night without having recurring nightmares of those endless months living a hot, mouldy tent. We became so alienated from our humanity, we were thoroughly transformed into a bush of animals after years of living in the most appalling conditions possible." - A Dad in Nauru
Suicides and abuse and self- harm are all part of the processing regime, an inevitable part. Detention centres have turned into zoos. Humans are treated as animals. They are living in a jungle with no law and no justice. Australia, get your act together.
Anyway, that's all for today! Thank you for reading and I hope you learnt something from this post! If you support my opinion, please speak out and be the voice for those who are voiceless. Remember to follow my blog by clicking the subscribe button (located on the top right side of the page), keep updated on my posts and share my blog with others! I love you all! 💕
Yours forever,
Brianna Fong
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in a world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it."
Just before I continue, many of you are probably wondering why I suddenly disappeared from cyberspace and maybe mad at me for not updating for weeks. About that...I don't really have a valid reason for you so all I can do is apologise. Sorry. I know I am always tardy and I am really lazy but I will work hard for you. Please don't leave.
"We are told that Australia is the “lucky country”. A country where our most attractive asset is our multicultural community and diverse society. In our anthem, we sing: “for those who come across the seas, we’ve boundless plains to share”. Ironically, it is in the second verse which we hardly ever sing. Perhaps this reveals the true attitude Australia has towards asylum seekers." - Sayomi Ariyawansa (Futureleaderscom.au. (2017). Futureleaderscom.au. Retrieved 13 May, 2017, from http://www.futureleaders.com.au/young_writers/pdf/What_Difference_Writing/Sayomi_Ariyawansa.pdf)
It's not new news when it comes to the treatment of refugees Australia detention centres. Australia has used Nauru twice - and its beholden and broke government - as a remote site for the "offshore processing" of people who seek asylum and protection. People who flee from countries which are persecuting them, escaping for their lives. Australia's mandatory detention policy means that asylum seekers are locked in a detention centre until they are processed, which mind you takes years. The government always tell us that these people are a burden that we don't want, and the best way to stop them is to show them that Australia is not an open country and will not accept everyone.
Currently, our system abuses and psychologically damages innocent people and goes against UN conventions. The UN requires host countries to treat asylum seekers with dignity and respect while their claims for asylum are processed. In its latest report, the UN's Committee on the Rights of the Child outlined the "cramped, humid and life-threatening conditions" the children are exposed in the centres, including reported restrictions on drinking water. The report also highlighted the "inhuman and degrading treatment, including physical, psychological and sexual abuse, against asylum seeking and refugee children living in the Regional Processing Centres."
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| Drawn by a 7 year old girl who was in the centre of Nauru. "That is Nauru. All the people sad...That is me dead. I died." Photo: Australian Human Rights Commission report |
"Since then I have not slept even one night without having recurring nightmares of those endless months living a hot, mouldy tent. We became so alienated from our humanity, we were thoroughly transformed into a bush of animals after years of living in the most appalling conditions possible." - A Dad in Nauru
Suicides and abuse and self- harm are all part of the processing regime, an inevitable part. Detention centres have turned into zoos. Humans are treated as animals. They are living in a jungle with no law and no justice. Australia, get your act together.
Anyway, that's all for today! Thank you for reading and I hope you learnt something from this post! If you support my opinion, please speak out and be the voice for those who are voiceless. Remember to follow my blog by clicking the subscribe button (located on the top right side of the page), keep updated on my posts and share my blog with others! I love you all! 💕
Yours forever,
Brianna Fong
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in a world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it."
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