Doctors warned that a 12-year-old refugee girl on Nauru, who had made several suicide attempts, would die if she was not taken off the island. Meanwhile, the daughters of a Tamil family taken from their home in Biloela, Queensland were reported to be suffering behavioural issues in immigration detention.
The family of a young Iraqi asylum seeker who died last week in immigration detention after his fourth attempt at suicide said he had been threatened with rape and mistreated. The family indicated that they plan to take legal action against the federal government.
At least a dozen Sri Lankan asylum seekers were forcibly deported back to Sri Lanka on a specially chartered plane from Perth. The Guardian reports the majority were Tamil, but at least one was Sinhalese. Separately, an Iraqi asylum seeker whose appeal was due next week was also deported against his will.
The new UN Human Rights Chief Michelle Bachelet described Australia’s offshore processing system as ‘an affront to the protection of human rights’ in her maiden speech at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14.