Gerry Georgatos
Heading into day four of the hunger protest on Nauru, in high temperatures, unhygienic high density conditions at the detention centre cropped by hills of disused phosphate mines and dugouts and thick jungle forest, here is the latest message from within:
More than 30 detained Asylum Seekers layed unconscious at the end of the third day of their hunger strike.
They describe conditions at the detention centre as "hell" and that they fear some will not make it through the ordeal. They describe treatment towards them by many of the camp's personnel as dismissive, indifferent, coercive, without empathy.
More than 30 detained Asylum Seekers who collapsed in the open heat from the hunger strike, many unconscious, were taken to under resourced sick bays and a temporary medical suite - however despite their condition, once strong enough many of them returned back to the protest site and have continued on in with their conscientious objection to their incarceration, maltreatment, and the slum like conditions of the tent city facility at the detention centre - they are once again protesting through hunger.
"We will hunger strike to the death if we have to, this is death here, we are (either) with rights or without them."
"The Australian Government has brought this upon us - they cannot leave people like this, not even take applications for Asylum from us, leave us to die to here. The Government punishes us because they don't want us here, this is not right, we came here well meaning, for safety and we have been abandoned."
One said earlier, "The smell of death is here..."
In the latest, "We will continue the hunger strike, we have no choice, we will not stop."
Glucose, saline and other treatments had to be administered at the onsite interim medical suites to dehydrated and collapsed hunger strikers.
Just about all the detained Asylum Seekers on Nauru are on the hunger strike - with more than 350 on the island prison facility, nearly the whole 350 are together in support of each other in the hunger protest.
"We came here for hope and kindness, we have given up what little hopes we had back home, we have left behind our loved ones, we have lost much, now we are losing the last of what we have left, we are losing our mental health."
"The Australian Government needs to understand we are Asylum Seekers, we not rabid animals, we are not less than human and they should not cage us."
"Australia wants more Asylum Seekers it has us here, they should accept us with the heart open. If they don't want us here why did they not turn back our boats and let us drown at sea. Instead they torture us in Nauru. They have made life hell for us."
"We came here in good faith, to be part of Australia, a big country, a good country. Australia is not a poor country, it is a rich country, if you cannot help us then who can?"
"We came in peace."
"Is it right you leave us like animals in the open, in this heat, in tents where temperatures are high, we have lived in tents so hot, more than 40 degrees to 45 degrees heat for more than a month. We sweat all the time, we are sick, we feel suffering. We cry, we do not understand why after our suffering to leave our countries, after boat trips."
"Why did you not say to us 'you are brave' for your escape? But you put us in this prison and punish us instead."
"We have risked us in dangerous sea, we have crossed the Indian Ocean, we have risked our lives, we risk our lives again with hunger strike and again we risk our lives for our rights. The Australian Government risks our lives this time."
The communications and the tragedy pours out of the Nauru detention facility, the crisis for all the world to see.
There have been a spate of suicide attempts, and near deaths in the last couple of weeks. The Australian Government remains silent, and more than just complicit in this tragic stain on the Australian consciousness, indeed it is the Australian Government is the predominant stressor in having given rise, causal, to this tragedy - a high density tent city slum in Nauru, unbearable detention in oppressive conditions, no bona fide commitment to when applications for Asylum will commence, and the dismissive 'no advantage' indifference to their plight, their cries, their suffering.
There will be deaths in Australia's patch of hell in Nauru - this is inevitable sadly unless someone in Australia's Cabinet is prepared to stand up and be counted - "unless..."
As we are about to post this - communications in that more humanity has collapsed... the hunger strike continues amidst their fears and worst expectations.
0430 657 309
info@humanrightsalliance.org
YOUTUBE message from Nauru hunger striker:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwZcwnfU4mo
"Call for freedom from hunger strikers in Nauru"
"We have seen here the same conditions we have (came from)"
"Day by day we suffer from many diseases..."
LINKS:
https://indymedia.org.au/2012/10/25/another-suicide-attempt-at-nauru-det...
https://indymedia.org.au/2012/10/21/nauru-governments-normalising-racism...
https://indymedia.org.au/2012/10/23/the-judge-is-wrong-tell-it-to-malala...
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/hunger-strike-on-nauru-co...
TEN asylum seekers on hunger strike on Nauru remain in the care of medics as their protest continues.
About 300 detainees are refusing food in the protest, which started on Thursday morning.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/hunger-strikers-on-nauru-collapse-2012...
Fifteen asylum seekers are believed to have collapsed and seven given medical treatment, as the hunger strike on Nauru escalates.
Up to 300 men are now reportedly refusing to eat in protest at the conditions on the Pacific island and the lack of information given to them about their processing.
Comments
Refugee Action Coalition media release
MEDIA RELEASE
NAURU MASS HUNGER STRIKE ENTERS ITS THIRD DAY:
The hunger strike by asylum seekers has entered its third day still
with around 300 people not eating.
By midday Saturday, a total of 25 people had collapsed or become weak
enough to require treatment at the medical centre.
The Department of Immigration has failed to respond to the asylum
seekers’ request for a meeting.
“We are growing increasingly concerned about the health and fate of
the asylum seekers. It is increasingly urgent that the Minister
intervenes. There is no excuse for delaying the processing of the
asylum seekers in Nauru or in Australia,” said Ian Rintoul,
spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.
“The Minister for Refugee Backflips, should make one more and admit
that Pacific Solution 2.0 has failed. The punitive treatment of asylum
seekers on Nauru is entirely gratuitous. Sending more asylum seekers
to Nauru or Manus Island is wrose than pointless.
“He can save the lives of the asylum seekers on Nauru by intervening
in the hunger strike. If such a hunger strike was happening in
Australia, immigration officials would already be inside the detention
centre. The facilities on Nauru simply cannot deal with the scale of
the crisis unfolding.”
For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713
The statement issued by the Nauru Hunger Strikers, Saturday 3 November
is pasted below.
Asylum seekers Nauru
To whom it may concern
To: The government of Australia and human rights organisations
There is a big difference between criminal and asylum seekers, but the
Australian does not take care of the difference between asylums
seekers of Nauru camp, Darwin and Curtin camp, are treated
differently.
As a human being in this critical condition, we are not being given
fair treatment , which affect us physically and mentally. This bitter
reality torture us 24 hours means all days.
In our home land we were in a danger of being tortured physically, but
here we are facing mental tortured which are effecting us mentally.
All these sorrowful information have been provided to world through
telephone, mails and email but haven’t been given any response.
Today we all got together to declare that we will continue our
gathering until getting our rights. The following are our demands.
1) The most important appeal is that if Australian Government should
give attention to our cases and take us back to Australia.
2) We request the Australia Government to visits us and see us in bad
condition of our lives.
3) Close the Nauru detention center.
4) We accept Australia as a democratic country, where people are being
treated equally and as a human being, we expect the same treatment.
At last we want to thanks people who help us …
Funding to impress the world, forgetting the voting battlers
Emotional blackmail doesn't work with me.If Australia grants these people asylum every man and dog will be on a hunger strike,where will it end? They should not be rewarded for inflicting self harm but rather put on a drip and sent home.
My Australian hard working tax paying friend is awaiting a hospital bed with a lump pressing on her heart,does she have to go on a hunger strike to get medical assistance?
As for Bob Car and his 100 million dollars for malaria it seems to me a deal was cut for a UN vote due to the timing of the announcement,the money the Government ripped out of the pockets of single parents is supporting illegal boat people and malaria..Makes me sick when funding is needed here this Governments focus is to impress the rest of the world but forgot about the ones who vote the Aussie battlers ..
RAC interview to the ABC
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-04/nauru-hunger-strike-continues/4351736
Detained Asylum Seekers say Salvos wrong about Nauru
http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/52707
But allegations have surfaced that staff inside the centre have made attempts to obstruct and interrupt their bid to be heard by the Australian public. One asylum seeker held on Nauru told Green Left Weekly that Salvation Army staff stationed in the centre had torn down protest signs assembled by the detainees.
A young man held in the camp spoke with me by phone on October 30 about the protests and conditions in the camp.
During the protest, he said detainees carried “paper that we had [written] what we wanted. Many men here are already walking with terror, already crazy and ill, there are many diseases. Our Friday protest [on October 26], was very peaceful, we ask for freedom and processing.
“They took them [the signs] from us, they pull them out of our hands.”
25 days of hunger strike
An Iranian man at the Nauru detention centre is into his 25th day of the hunger protest.
Not enough...
http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/cb/2012/cb191007.htm
The increased 2012–13 program targets refugees from source and transit countries, including:
•up to 2000 refugees of African nationality including people from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Eritrea
•up to 3800 Iraqi refugees from Syria, Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon
•up to 2000 Afghan refugees out of countries in the region
•1350 Burmese, Afghans, Iranians and other refugee populations in Malaysia
•up to 1200 Bhutanese refugees out of Nepal
•up to 800 Burmese refugees from Thailand
•around 600 Afghan, Iraqi and Iranian refugees in Indonesia
•around 200 Burmese refugees in India and
•around 200 UNHCR referred caseloads outside these target groups.
THREE BILLION DOLLARS
Consider this: the DIAC budget for their immigration prisons for the next year alone is $3 billion!!!
It is now nearly 60 Asylum Seekers who have collapsed
From within Nauru:
04/11/2012 Time:11:00 pm
30 more Asylum seekers became unconscious on fourth/4th day of Hunger Strikes in Nauru Hell.
Till 55 asylum seekers have been become unconscious and taken to the medical rooms and some of them back in the camp and continuing their hunger strikes.
They are giving some Glucose and other treatment in the medical room.
The total numbers of asylum seekers in Nauru now on hunger strike are 300.
Even we have seen the patient of diabetes taking part in hunger strikes.
The Asylum seekers in Nauru demand we will continue our hunger strike until getting our rights till to the death.
We have lost our wealth and now we are losing our mental health.
If the Australian Government really needs asylum seekers they should accept them with wholeheartedly and should give them facilities.
We came to peaceful Australia for a new hope a and new start of life.
In Modern Period nobody wanna like keep even domestic animal in a tent at 42 Celsius temperature for a months, but the Human being are still living in in hell hole Nauru.
The Asylum seekers in Nauru think once they have taken the risk of deep Indian ocean ,now they will take the risk during hunger strikes ,untill getting their rights till the death.
At last we also request to the PM Julia Gilliard,MPs of Australia and United Nation of Human Rights ,save our lives and future means take us back to Australia and start our process there.
Perth
REFUGEE HUNGER STRIKERS ON NAURU ATTRACT SOLIDARITY PROTEST IN PERTH
In a show of solidarity with the ongoing hunger strike by refugees detained indefinitely on Nauru, refugee supporters in Perth will be holding a protest this Thursday, November 8, at 12:30pm outside the Department of Immigration and Citizenship office in West Perth.
Organised in Perth by the Refugee Rights Action Network, it will coincide with similar protests in Sydney, Melbourne, and by the roughly 300 refugees on hunger strike on Nauru.
Protestors will be supporting the list of demands drawn up by refugees themselves on Nauru:
1.The most important appeal is that if Australian Government should have attention to our cases and take us back to Australia.
2.We request the Australia Government to visits us and see us in bad condition of our lives.
3.Close the Nauru detention center.
4.We accept Australia as a democratic country, where people are being treated equally and as a human being, we expect the same treatment.
“The human rights abuses being committed by the Australian Government on Nauru are grave, and the determined resistance by refugees to this inhumane treatment demands the support of all decent people in Australia,” said Robert Callan, a spokesperson for the Refugee Rights Action Network.
For further information see
http://www.facebook.com/events/412372948828459/,
or contact 0417904329
www.rran.org
Nauru's 25 day hunger striker
http://naururefugees.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/day-25-without-food-for-an...
Message from Nauru
From a refugee advocate:
"Spoke with some of the men on nauru via skype earlier tonight and close to 50 are now refusing water. They are aware of the protests planned across the country tomorrow (Thursday) and say this is really giving them hope. I was told that Omid, the Iranian who has been on hunger strike for 28 days now, is too weak to stand and his friends need to take his hands to assist him to sit up..."
Protests around the nation
NAURU HUNGER STRIKE – SEVEN DAYS
SOLIDARITY PROTESTS IN FOUR CITIES THURSDAY
The mass hunger strike by asylum seekers on Nauru enters its seventh
day with around 300 people refusing food. The latest statement from
the hunger strikers is pasted below.
Refugee groups have called solidarity protests for Thursday, 8
November in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and Darwin – details below. The
Sydney protest plans to make phone contact with the hunger strikers on
Nauru at the rally.
Around 10 of the hungers strikers required medical attention yesterday
(Tuesday), but the figures for Wednesday were unknown.
Unconfirmed reports say that up to 50 the asylum seekers stopped
drinking after midday yesterday.
There are also mounting concerns at the health of the Iranian who is
now in the 27th day of his hunger strike. Asylum seekers on Nauru say
he is very thin and getting weaker. “He stands for 10minutes, not
more,” one asylum seeker told the Refugee Action Coalition.
A Red Cross delegation visiting Nauru met with the protesting asylum
seekers yesterday (Tuesday). It seems they are on a fact-finding
mission and to meet with representatives of the Nauruan government.
They told the asylum seekers, “We cannot do anything about the Nauru
or the PNG law. But we can send your message to the Australian and the
Nauru governments.”
“We remain extremely concerned with the deteriorating conditions on
Nauru,” said Ian Rintoul, from the Refugee Action Coalition. “The
asylum seekers are in a desperate situation. They feel they have
nothing to lose. Over 6000 asylum seekers have arrived in Australia
since 13 August. Dumping 377 asylum seekers on Nauru has done nothing
but put their mental and physical health at risk. It is a disgraceful
abuse of human rights for them to be victimised for coming to
Australia to seek protection. It is no crime to seek asylum.”
For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713
Solidarity Protests – Thursday 8 November
Sydney: Department of Immigration, 22 Lee Street, Sydney (near Central
Station), 12.30pm
Melbourne: Department of Immigration, cnr Lonsdale and Spring Sts
City, 12.30pm (Contact Chris: 0403 013 183)
Perth: 12.30pm DIAC office, 836 Wellington St, West Perth
Darwin: Darwin Airport Lodge Vigil, Thursday 8 November, 5:30pm
Demo video: "Have we reached rock bottom yet on refugee rights?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qqAhCiuB34
"Are we there yet... in the race to rock bottom on refugee rights?" asked Dianne Hiles from Children Out of Detention (ChilOut) at a November 8 protest in Sydney against the detention of asylum seekers by the Australian on Nauru Island. As the mass hunger strike by asylum seekers detained by the Australian government on Nauru entered its eighth day, with around 300 people refusing food, refugee groups held solidarity simultaneous protests in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and Darwin. Video by Peter Boyle for Green Left TV.
Some people can be low - $50,000 saved by hunger strike!!!
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/hunger-strike-saves-ta...
NEWS that up to 300 asylum seekers on Nauru are on a hunger strike should be welcomed by Australian taxpayers.
My rough estimates are that their refusal to eat for the past five days has saved us more than $50 000.
For that reason alone we should hope they continue their protest.
Howls of disgust from refugee advocates ignore that those who have taken the decision to go without food are acting of their own volition.
It is a challenge to the authority of the Australian Government to decide where their claims for asylum should be processed.
We can only assume their radical tactics are calculated to have the Gillard Government cave in to their demands to be transferred to the mainland.
They are being supported by the usual mob of bleeding hearts who believe their plight is more important than the thousands of other displaced people trapped in refugee camps around the planet by their lack of financial resources.
This hunger strike is the first major test of the government’s new “no advantage” boat people policy.
Five days into the protest it is holding the line.
In the unlikely event that the Nauru inmates reject sustainance for a protracted period and begin to fall ill it will be compelled to take action.
Should it cave in its policy will go down the plughole, surrendering the “asylum” to the ratbags who up till now have called most of the shots.
Before it reaches that stage, the government is entitled to take precipitous action to return the troublemakers to their countries of origin.
From a worker at Nauru
A MELBOURNE woman who worked at the Nauru detention centre has described it as ''horrific and appalling'', as claims emerge from refugee advocates and an asylum seeker that five detainees have attempted suicide in the past two weeks.
Aid worker Brett Louise Woods returned to Australia last month after 2½ weeks at Nauru. The first worker to speak out about conditions there, she was appalled by the facilities, saying detainees had no legal representation and were ''psychologically traumatised'' because there was ''no end in sight''.
An asylum seeker at the Nauru processing centre said he had witnessed two attempted suicides. He said detainees and guards cut down one man who tried to hang himself. Another man tried to cut his own throat. He said the two were now being held in tents ''like mad people''.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/life-on-nauru-horrific-says-aid-worker...
http://www.theage.com.au/national/life-on-nauru-horrific-says-aid-worker...
RAC media release
TWELFTH DAY: NAURU - NEW ARRIVALS JOIN HUNGER STRIKE
Twenty –three asylum seekers, (four Iraqis, 5 Sri Lankans, 8 Afghanis
and 6 Iranians) transferred from Christmas Island to Nauru today, have
joined the hunger strike.
Monday is the twelfth day of the mass hunger strike. The Iranian man
is on the 32nd day of his hunger strike.
Today 12 people required treatment at the medical centre; yesterday it was 15.
Four people have also dug their symbolic graves inside the detention.
There were further signs of the stress on the medical centre after
Nauruan police were called when one of the hunger strikers staged a
two-hour naked protest after doctors had refused for a week to get
painkillers for a toothache.
The hunger strikers also have concerns for one man who suffered a
psychotic episode two days ago (Saturday 10 November). “He is only a
little bit ok,” one Nauruan asylum seeker told the Refugee Action
Coalition (RAC), “He is still talking quite strangely.”
Fears are growing for the welfare of the Iranian man in the 32nd day
of his hunger strike. Doctors have told him that he will be
transferred to the Nauru hospital “in the coming days” and warned that
he faces kidney failure and increased risk of a hear attack if the
hunger strike continues. The doctor also asked him to appoint someone
to make decisions concerning his welfare should he become unconscious.
“The possibility of the Nauruan hunger strikers suffering permanent
damage grows day by day. It is possible that the Iranian man has
already suffered permanent damage. It is increasingly urgency that the
Minister intervenes,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the RAC.
“Transferring more people to limbo on Nauru is needlessly adding to
the crisis there. Another 23 people are now on hunger strike.
“The Minister is playing recklessly with their lives. Four hundred
people on Nauru are being sacrificed to a failed, cruel policy. Its
time to close Nauru and begin processing all those who have arrived
since 13 August.”
For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713
RAC media release
FIJIAN DEPORTEE STAGES ROOF TOP PROTEST: LAWYER CRITICISES LACK OF
POLICE NEGOTIATORS
Three asylum seekers, including a female Fijian asylum seeker,
scheduled for deportation today, has taken to the roof of a building
at Villawood detention centre in last desperate attempt to prevent the
woman’s removal. The three climbed onto the roof around 7.00am this
morning when guards came to take the Fijian woman to the airport.
Her husband who is scheduled for removal tomorrow, Tuesday, is still
in the Villawood detention centre.
The situation is tragically similar to the situation in September
2010, when another Fijian man, Josepha Raulini, jumped to his death
from the roof of a building in the Villawood compound.
The situation in Villawood is being managed by Serco who have closed
off the building and placed mattresses around its base in case anyone
jumps. No police are in attendance.
Geroge Newhouse, of Shine lawyers, has criticized the failure of
police to attend the Villawood situation, “Two coronial enquiries have
indicated a need for trained police negotiators in such situations –
the Raulini case and the Tanganoa case in Melbourne several years
ago.”
“The Immigration Department should withdraw the removal notice for
both the wife and husband,” said Ian Rintoul, from the Refugee Action
Coalition. “That is the first step to de-escalate the situation and
remove the threat of forcible removal.”
Refugee rights activists will rally outside the detention centre in
support this evening from 6pm. Urgent steps are underway to gain an
injunction to prevent the removal, but it is unclear whether this can
be organised before the Immigration Department acts to carry out their
deportation.
For more information contact George Newhouse, Shine Lawyers 0422 255
109, Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713
A Letter to Mr Christopher Bowen
Bowen,
If you think that your party will back you when people start dying on Nauru, I think you are going to be sadly disappointed. It will end your political career. Fort this reason alone you have to back down.
Even Ruddock, the purveyor of blatant racism when he was minister, relented and recommenced processing refugee applications under similar circumstances of hunger strikes and protests in late 2001 and early 2002.
I am not naive enough to appeal to your humanity or decency. It is clear that all moral and ethical standards are subordinate to your perceived political interests. Either that or you really do have a philosophical commitment to racism and xenophobia. Don't insult my intelligence by running the line that this is all about saving lives at sea, we all know that's a complete lie.
But for your own political interests and for the survival of your career, you must back down. For your own political interests and the survival of your career, you must fight back against the coalition. This is what the electorate responds to, you putting up a fight. They have no respect and will not vote for someone who allows government policy to be set by the opposition because they are too gutless to take up a fight.
without any respect and almost no hope for you making a decent decision
Peter XXXXXX
Video from Nauru - Day 12
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0gZ6qIPtiI
Students occupy Plibersek's office
STUDENTS OCCUPY LABOR MP TANYA PLIBERSEK'S OFFICE OVER "NAURU HELL"
Today, Thursday 15 November, refugee activists from Sydney University
are staging a sit-in at Minister for Health Tanya Plibersek's office.
"We are seeing a crisis of the Labor government's creation unfold on
Nauru," said Domenique Sherab, spokesperson for the Sydney University
Anti-Racism Collective.
"Labor’s Pacific Solution is already worse than Howard's. Plibersek
and other Labor left Ministers say they support the policy that stops
deaths at sea. But the asylum seekers on Nauru say it is killing them.
They don't call it Nauru, they call it 'Nauru hell'. Nearly 300
refugees staged a 12 day hunger strike that ended on Tuesday. Six
Iranians are continuing to refuse food. And one man, Omid, is on his
35th day of a hunger strike. His life is in danger.
"But the government has persistently denied the severity of the
conditions and the protests on Nauru. They are condemning refugees to
live in tents in tropical heat, and reports from the island show that
medical care and access to phones and the internet are routinely
restricted.
"We are here today to make very clear that Labor's Pacific Solution
does nothing to save refugees' lives. The blame for any permanent
physical and psychological damage caused to refugees on Nauru lies
squarely at the feet of the government. As Minister for Health, it is
shameful that Plibersek has said nothing about these conditions.
"When the government pushed through legislation to excise the entire
mainland of Australia from the migration zone in recent weeks,
something not even Howard could do, they proved again their concern is
not asylum seekers lives', but a determination to outstrip the
Liberals in punishing refugees," said Sherab.
Meanwhile, three Fijian refugees at Villawood Detention Centre are
staging a roof-top protest to prevent two detainees from being
forcibly deported back to Fiji, and a refugee with an ASIO negative
security clearance has begun a hunger strike in Melbourne.
"The government's policy is built to destroy the bodies and minds of
refugees. Students and community members are occupying Plibersek's
office today to demand that refugees on Nauru be brought to Australia
to have their claims processed immediately, as they are demanding, and
that all refugees be settled in the community.”
Contact Domenique Sherab on 0423 368 383