No Script

Please Wait...

Al-Ahed Telegram

UN Urges Australia to Evacuate Offshore Refugees over Looming Health Crisis

UN Urges Australia to Evacuate Offshore Refugees over Looming Health Crisis
folder_openAsia-Pacific... access_time5 years ago
starAdd to favorites

Local Editor

The United Nations asked Australia to urgently evacuate detainees from the Pacific islands of Nauru and Papua New Guinea, saying it bears responsibility for their deteriorating health conditions.

Worsening mental health has left some of the children among the refugees in a "semi-comatose state," unable to eat, drink or talk, humanitarian group Doctors without Borders [MSF], which was ejected from Nauru, said.

For its part, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said Friday that more than 1,400 people are still being held on both islands, which hosted Australia-bound migrants and asylum-seekers since 2013.

The refugees were transferred to the islands after being intercepted trying to reach Australia by boat, a policy widely criticized by the United Nations and other rights groups.

"This policy has failed on a number of measures," UNHCR spokeswoman Catherine Stubberfield said in a statement. "It's failed to protect refugees, it's failed to provide even for their most basic needs."

Of the 12 people who have died since Australia began detaining migrants and refugees offshore, half had been confirmed or suspected suicides, the agency said.

"Ultimately, responsibility lies with Australia for those who have sought its protection," Stubberfield said in the statement on the agency's website.

"This is a system designed, financed, managed by Australia, and it's Australia which must be accountable for the full gamut of those consequences."

Meanwhile, Australia's Department of Home Affairs did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters to seek comment.

In a statement to the Guardian newspaper, it said it treated the health of refugees "seriously."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

Comments

Breaking news