Last month the Australian government, with the support
of the opposition, passed the
Border Force Protection Act through both houses of Parliament. It will come into effect on July 1.
If the act defines you as an "entrusted
person," you might be facing jail for up to two years if you reveal anything
about what happens in Australia's immigration detention centers to anybody
else.
An "entrusted person" is anyone working
directly or indirectly for the Department of Immigration and Border Protection,
so that's doctors, nurses, psychologists, teachers, counsellors, security
staff, maintenance workers, or anyone who has signed a government contract.
This puts medical professionals and those
who work with children on Nauru or Manus Island in bizarre circumstances.
Outside of detention centers, they're legally obligated to report child abuse.
As of July 1, they can't do the same with abuse witnessed on the inside.
Refugee advocates and human rights lawyers
say the legislation is a veiled attempt to silence whistleblowers from
revealing human rights violations inside Australia's detention centers. And the
mounting evidence of such violations makes this legislation all the more
disturbing.
In October last year, Australia's Immigration Department
ordered ten workers from
Save The Children to leave Nauru's detention center after they alleged sexual
abuse against women and children.
The ensuing independent Moss Review
looked at both the allegations of sexual abuse, as well as claims from then
Immigration Minister, Scott Morrison, that Save the Children's workers
coached seekers to make false claims. It found evidence of the rape and
sexual assault of minors and women as well as guards trading marijuana for
sexual favors. There was no evidence of collusion between asylum seekers and
advocates to make false claims. The findings of the review are subject to a
senate enquiry which is due to report on July 31.
Similarly, February's Australian Human
Rights Commission's (AHRC)
report on children in detention found there were 233 recorded assaults
involving children with 33 incidents of sexual assault between January 2013 and
March 2014. read more here
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