Former child detainee calls for asylum seeker release

A former child detainee at Australia's offshore processing centre on Nauru has called on the federal government to release detained asylum-seekers.

**FILE** A December 10, 2003 supplied file photo of the refugee camp on the Island of Nauru.

**FILE** A December 10, 2003 supplied file photo of the refugee camp on the Island of Nauru.

A former child detainee at Australia's offshore processing centre on Nauru has called on the federal government to release asylum-seekers currently in detention.

It comes after an independent report into allegations of sexual abuse of detainees found several dozen cases of abuse against asylum seekers on the island.

Mohammad Baqiri spent three years living on Nauru.

He says his parents had helped him and his brother flee Afghanistan to seek a better life in Australia.

At that time, the Howard government had begun implementing the so-called Pacific Solution.

Under that plan, any asylum seekers seeking refuge in Australia were taken to Nauru or Papua New Guinea for processing, rather than the Australian mainland.

So at the age of 10, Mohammed and his brother were sent to Nauru.

"The conditions were really bad - terrible. Lack of medical assistance, people with psychotic disorders, depression, anxiety. As a child I witnessed people try to commit suicide. I've seen people go on hunger strikes, people sewing their lips - as a 10 year old kid - people reading out suicide letters and at that time not having my parents with me, it was even harder for me, at that detention centre."

He describes feeling sad during his time there.

"Everytime the government was telling us that there is no way (to Australia) You would stay here forever. And just thinking about the fact that I have to stay here forever, 'What's going to happen to my parents? Don't I have a life? What's happening?'"

He says he was eventually granted refugee status and was able to move to Australia.

And a few years later, he was reunited with his parents.

He says he sometimes struggles to comprehend the decision his parents made to let him seek asylum in Australia.

"They wanted a better future for me. Sometimes I ask my mum, or my dad, how did you guys have the courage to let me go on a journey that is so dangerous. Did you guys even love me? And basically it's always, my mum with tears, Son I did this for your own benefit, for your future"

Now 23 and living in Melbourne, Mohammed says refugees can contribute to Australian society.

"They could literally make a difference when they do come to Australia. And I've proven that. This is my last year of doing a double degree in law and business. I'm a qualified interpreter and I'm doing things in the community and making a difference."

Last week the Immigration Department released a report of the review by former Integrity Commissioner Philip Moss.

It found several dozen cases of abuse against asylum seekers on the island, with guards possibly trading drugs for sexual favours.

The Moss report came just weeks after the Australian Human Rights Commission released its report detailing the impact of detaining asylum-seeker children between 2013 and 2014.

It found that over a 15-month period there were 112 incidents of self-harm among children and 27 incidents of voluntary starvation.

The Immigration Department says all 19 recommendations from the Moss review have been accepted, and it has begun work on implementing them.

Pamela Curr from the Melbourne-based Asylum Seeker Resource Centre says they don't go far enough.

"There is nothing there that is going to protect a woman from being raped anytime this week. There is nothing in those recommendations that is going to protect a child from being sexually or physically abused. The recommendations are all about increasing training for the Nauru police and increasing the training for the guards. Those are things that take years."

The Immigration Department says any decision on criminal proceedings are not a matter for Australia - and will have to be taken up by Nauru authorities.


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