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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/03/tragedy-on-nauru-we-do-not-need-to-act-like-a-stupid-and-brutal-nation
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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Tragedy on Nauru: we do not need to act like a stupid and brutal nation | Tragedy on Nauru: we do not need to act like a stupid and brutal nation |
| (4 months later) | |
| The death this week of Omid, a young refugee held on Nauru, brought feelings of sadness but also great anger. News that a second refugee, a young Somali woman, has self-immolated and is fighting for her life in a Brisbane hospital only adds to this. These are tragic, entirely predictable and preventable consequences of our harsh border protection policies. It absolutely shames us as a people and a community. | The death this week of Omid, a young refugee held on Nauru, brought feelings of sadness but also great anger. News that a second refugee, a young Somali woman, has self-immolated and is fighting for her life in a Brisbane hospital only adds to this. These are tragic, entirely predictable and preventable consequences of our harsh border protection policies. It absolutely shames us as a people and a community. |
| And the finding by the supreme court of Papua New Guinea that detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island is illegal, brings shame on us as a nation. As does our refusal to accept the offer made by New Zealand to settle some of those, like Omid and this young woman, who have been found to be refugees. | And the finding by the supreme court of Papua New Guinea that detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island is illegal, brings shame on us as a nation. As does our refusal to accept the offer made by New Zealand to settle some of those, like Omid and this young woman, who have been found to be refugees. |
| The stubborn and divisive repetition of slogans about tough border protection and deaths at sea fails to justify the bribing of our neighbours and deliberate destruction of the lives of those who have sought asylum here. It is long past time for a bipartisan solution. | The stubborn and divisive repetition of slogans about tough border protection and deaths at sea fails to justify the bribing of our neighbours and deliberate destruction of the lives of those who have sought asylum here. It is long past time for a bipartisan solution. |
| I am a child psychiatrist. I have visited families held in detention on and offshore and have seen lives diminished and destroyed as a consequence. I have also worked in child protection and know how much we invest in supporting families, in protecting Australian children from exposure to violence and neglect and in reducing family and sexual violence. But these refugee children, these people seem to be different, not entirely dispensable but almost, used by successive governments as deterrence. | I am a child psychiatrist. I have visited families held in detention on and offshore and have seen lives diminished and destroyed as a consequence. I have also worked in child protection and know how much we invest in supporting families, in protecting Australian children from exposure to violence and neglect and in reducing family and sexual violence. But these refugee children, these people seem to be different, not entirely dispensable but almost, used by successive governments as deterrence. |
| They are hostage to our brutal domestic politics, the children unable to gain the safety their parents sought for them, at risk, held in inadequate and harsh environments, with despairing, desperate and now dying adults. | They are hostage to our brutal domestic politics, the children unable to gain the safety their parents sought for them, at risk, held in inadequate and harsh environments, with despairing, desperate and now dying adults. |
| Trauma and despair are contagious. At least one other refugee has set herself alight but Omid’s death also affects those who knew and loved him, the children and adults who saw him burning, and those staff who were responsible for saving him in a situation where adequate emergency care was reportedly not available or was delayed. | Trauma and despair are contagious. At least one other refugee has set herself alight but Omid’s death also affects those who knew and loved him, the children and adults who saw him burning, and those staff who were responsible for saving him in a situation where adequate emergency care was reportedly not available or was delayed. |
| The dangers in this environment and inadequacy of medical care are clearly and tragically demonstrated by the deaths of Hamid Kehazaei from septicaemia and Reza Barati after being brutally bashed on Manus Island. There are growing reports of trauma in detention centre workers as well as asylum seekers. These are harsh, hopeless and unsafe environments. Psychological treatment in this environment is useless. It is detention itself that is toxic. | The dangers in this environment and inadequacy of medical care are clearly and tragically demonstrated by the deaths of Hamid Kehazaei from septicaemia and Reza Barati after being brutally bashed on Manus Island. There are growing reports of trauma in detention centre workers as well as asylum seekers. These are harsh, hopeless and unsafe environments. Psychological treatment in this environment is useless. It is detention itself that is toxic. |
| Omid set himself on fire in despair at continuing indefinite detention on Nauru despite having been found to be a refugee and despite having a wife and young child. How could he have done this? We need to try and imagine how he felt. He set himself on fire in front of UNHCR representatives who were on Nauru to conduct a monitoring visit into the deteriorating mental health of those held in offshore camps. We may try to comprehend, but we cannot possibly accept that he was brought to this by our policies. | Omid set himself on fire in despair at continuing indefinite detention on Nauru despite having been found to be a refugee and despite having a wife and young child. How could he have done this? We need to try and imagine how he felt. He set himself on fire in front of UNHCR representatives who were on Nauru to conduct a monitoring visit into the deteriorating mental health of those held in offshore camps. We may try to comprehend, but we cannot possibly accept that he was brought to this by our policies. |
| In the face of this and the mounting number of deaths and attempted suicides in detention, alongside the irrefutable scientific evidence, the eyewitness and expert accounts as well as the government’s own data, it is hard to imagine what possible medical and psychological advice might be given to parliamentarians by their expert advisors apart from: “These camps must be closed immediately. We must find a solution.” | In the face of this and the mounting number of deaths and attempted suicides in detention, alongside the irrefutable scientific evidence, the eyewitness and expert accounts as well as the government’s own data, it is hard to imagine what possible medical and psychological advice might be given to parliamentarians by their expert advisors apart from: “These camps must be closed immediately. We must find a solution.” |
| Anything else amounts to justification for this disaster continuing. | Anything else amounts to justification for this disaster continuing. |
| The deaths in detention and the wider toll is mounting; for people detained, for local people exposed to or enlisted in the despair, for workers and for us a country, our reputation, and our sense of being a good and fair people. | The deaths in detention and the wider toll is mounting; for people detained, for local people exposed to or enlisted in the despair, for workers and for us a country, our reputation, and our sense of being a good and fair people. |
| The despair, violence and trauma will continue to escalate unless an urgent bipartisan solution is found for all people held in limbo, on Manus, Nauru, Christmas Island and onshore, held hostage to brutal domestic politics, since the Regional Settlement Arrangement (RSA) came into effect on 19 July 2013. | The despair, violence and trauma will continue to escalate unless an urgent bipartisan solution is found for all people held in limbo, on Manus, Nauru, Christmas Island and onshore, held hostage to brutal domestic politics, since the Regional Settlement Arrangement (RSA) came into effect on 19 July 2013. |
| Malcolm Turnbull is the one with something obscuring his vision if he believes he can dismiss protest in the circumstances as “misty-eyed”. That is an insult to everyone who feels that asylum seekers and refugees can and should be treated humanely and given protection and who have trusted our parliamentarians to find a just way to do this. | Malcolm Turnbull is the one with something obscuring his vision if he believes he can dismiss protest in the circumstances as “misty-eyed”. That is an insult to everyone who feels that asylum seekers and refugees can and should be treated humanely and given protection and who have trusted our parliamentarians to find a just way to do this. |
| The international and regional situation may be complicated, but things here are pretty simple; what we are doing to people in the name of protecting our borders under the RSA is plain wrong. | The international and regional situation may be complicated, but things here are pretty simple; what we are doing to people in the name of protecting our borders under the RSA is plain wrong. |
| We do not need to act like a stupid and brutal nation, which ignores our international obligations and treats some lives as worth less than others. I remain hopeful, perhaps against the odds that a solution to the current trauma can be found. This requires: | We do not need to act like a stupid and brutal nation, which ignores our international obligations and treats some lives as worth less than others. I remain hopeful, perhaps against the odds that a solution to the current trauma can be found. This requires: |
| Our politicians need to find a solution now and end these fatal and divisive politics. Lives and money will be saved, not wasted and lost in the process. | Our politicians need to find a solution now and end these fatal and divisive politics. Lives and money will be saved, not wasted and lost in the process. |