Australia: 25 Years of Abusive Offshore Detention

The useful part

Over the past 25 years, Australia has forcibly transferred more than 5,000 asylum seekers to Naoero (formerly called Nauru) and Manus Island, Papua New Guinea (PNG). Those transferred have experienced inhumane conditions and serious harm to their mental and physical health. The United Nations refugee agency, other countries, and human rights groups including Human Rights Watch, have repeatedly pressed Australia to end offshore processing.

How it works

• "Australia's offshore detention policy has caused harm to men, women, and children seeking refuge since its introduction 25 years ago," said Annabel Hennessy, Australia researcher at Human Rights Watch.
• Click to expand Image Naoero, formerly Nauru, island, March 2023.
• © 2023 mtcurado/Getty Images (Sydney) – The Australian government has caused thousands of people seeking asylum to suffer grave abuses under its offshore detention system, which began in September 2001,...
• The then-Coalition government had signed an initial agreement with Naoero on September 10 and deployed a military team three days later to build the detention facility.
• From 2001 to 2008, Australia transferred 1,637 asylum seekers to Naoero and Manus Island.

What to take from it

While Australia no longer sends people to Manus I... The policy was suspended by the then-Labor government in 2008, only to be reintroduced in 2012.