Around 800 refugees trying to reach Australia have been detained on the remote islands of Naru and Manus, AFP reported on Wednesday.
Behrouz Boochani, a detainee on Manus and Kurdish activist, tweeted that there have been “12 cases of self-harm and suicide attempts” so far. Boochani warned that the number is rising "by hours now".
Today three more people attempted suicide and self harm. Two are in Port Moresby and one on Manus. So far we have recorded 12 self harm and suicide attempts. The number’s raising by hours now.
— Behrouz Boochani (@BehrouzBoochani) May 22, 2019
Boochani continued to tweet, pleading for help on behalf of the refugees detained on the islands. "As a witness to six years of torture & violence by the Aus gov on Manus, I’m begging the people who still believe in human dignity to do whatever they can to help these broken souls on Manus & Nauru. The refugees’ mental health state has never been as bad before," Boochani wrote on Twitter.
The refugees live in severe conditions, and had their hopes pinned on a Labor party win, and improvements to the situation on the islands.
Refugees on the islands responded to Scott Morrison's center-right coalition’s shock win, with alarm and worry.
“No one comes out of their room. No one is talking to each other and [they are] keeping themselves isolated,” Shaminda Kanapathi, a refugee on Manus, told
Abdul Aziz Adam, another detainee, and a Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders laureate, took to Twitter to condemn the re-election of the conservative government.
"The Australian Govt have already signed death notes for the refugees & asylum seekers on Manus/Nauru. Since they won the election we had 12 plus men attempted suicide & self- harm between Manus & Pom [another immigration detention centre], when a person attempt[s] suicide he gets police response not mental health nurses," Adam wrote.
The Australian Govt have already signed death notes for the refugees & asylum seekers on Manus/Nauru. Since they won the election we had 12 plus men attempted suicide & self- harm between Manus & Pom, when a person attempt suicide he gets police response not mental health nurses. https://t.co/SZr202bxGu
— Abdul Aziz Adam (@Abdulaziz_Ada) May 22, 2019
In another tweet, accompanied with a picture of a fellow asylum-seeker, Adam wrote "Refugees on Manus start their day with suicide attempt, this poor guy who has suffered physically & mentally for [a] long time but they ignored him. This morning he thought suicide is the greatest kind of freedom, a release from everything, from a life that had been ruined a long time”.
Refugees on Manus start their day with suicide attempt, this poor guy who has suffered physically & mentally for long time but they ignored him. This morning he thought suicide is the greatest kind of freedom,a release from everything, from a life that had been ruined a long time pic.twitter.com/74oaB2kcOf
— Abdul Aziz Adam (@Abdulaziz_Ada) May 19, 2019
Manus Provincial Police Commander David Yapu told AFP that he was aware of at least ten suicide attempts, including four over the weekend.
The opposition Labor party had announced that they would consider resettling the refugees from Manus and Nauru to New Zealand.
PM Morrison announced he would get rid of the controversial Medevac law passed in February this year.
The bill had stipulated that refugees and asylum seekers that were sick on Nauru and Manus Island could be transferred to Australia for medical treatment.
In April, the Conservative Coalition spent $185m to reopen a detention center on Christmas Island that had been closed in 2018, based on the claims it was needed to process transfers related to the Medevac bill.
But no one was transferred, and the government revealed in its pre-election budget that it intended to close the centre as part of plans to repeal the law, if it won government.
The United Nations and rights groups have denounced the conservative party's anti-immigration policies.
"We have run out of vocabulary to describe the harm wrought," the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Canberra, said in December.
Over 2,000 asylum-seekers have arrived at Manus and Nauru since the offshore centres were reopened in 2012, according to AFP.
They have arrived from all over the world, many fleeing war or persecution from places like Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and Sudan.
