Lip-stitching and attempted self-immolation are among increasingly extreme acts of self-harm taking place in Australia’s two offshore detention camps in recent weeks.
Hunger strikes, cutting and attempted hangings have already become widespread in the tent city on Nauru. But, on February 19, for the first time since the “dark days” of former prime minister John Howard’s “Pacific solution,” refugees stitched their mouths closed to protest their arbitrary and indefinite detention.
The acts were part of a hunger strike that broke out among recent Iranian arrivals at the camp. By February 22, seven men had carried out lip-stitching.
Refugees have told Australian advocates some were sewing their lips in protest while other acts of self-harm were also taking place, including more suicide attempts and several brief escapes.
The department of immigration refused to give details, but confirmed that some men had been hospitalised with self-inflicted injuries.
The situation is causing heightened tensions and panic in the camp. One refugee said on February 20: “One of the asylum seekers who is living in my room, he sewed his lips. When I want to drink or eating something I remember him.”
“I can’t sleep well, I can’t be safe ... They are my friends they are the same as me.”
A few days before, three refugees escaped from the camp and wandered the barren island for four hours before being found by local police.
Refugee Action Coalition (RAC) spokesperson Nick Reimer told ABC Online that the excruciating and graphic act of lip-sewing signals the acute desperation of the men.
“They’re protesting against their treatment.
“They’re protesting against the fact they’re on Nauru ... and the fact they’re facing an indefinite amount of time on Nauru without any certainty about what their eventual fate will be.”
RAC has reported that the camp is experiencing a shortage of medical supplies and refugees are being turned away from the medical centre without being treated.
Several men in the camp have received news of family and partners being killed back in Pakistan.
On Manus Island, rising tensions in the “single adult male” (SAM) area, which is said by the department of immigration to be separate from families and children, has led to several violent outbreaks.
A message sent via Facebook on February 15 from a refugee on the island said there had been frightening unrest in the camp overnight, sparked by a group of men trying to get out of the camp.
About 40 men in the SAM area grew loud and aggressive, “jumped on fences”, “had wooden sticks in their hands”, and “stole gasoline”, the refugee said.
The medical centre was allegedly evacuated and “women were crying ... worried about their children”.
“Families are really stressed and worried.”
The department of immigration told Fairfax media there had been an “unauthorised absence”. G4S, the private security company that is running the centre, would investigate the incident, a department spokesperson said.
During previous escape attempts, refugees had made for the ocean and allegedly tried to drown themselves.
The group conflict occurred on the same day that a man had reportedly tried to self-immolate.
Papua New Guinean MP Ronnie Knight told AAP on February 20 that the detainee had doused himself in what he thought was petrol and tried to set himself alight.
A witness reportedly called the man “disturbed”, but downplayed the event because “it was not fuel or petrol” and “he never succeeded in setting himself on fire”. That incident would also be “investigated” by G4S, AAP said.
The appalling conditions in the camp have been highlighted in recent weeks by drawings done by highly distressed children and more photos of the squalid and under-resourced facilities.
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young visited the camp and returned with drawings showing families behind razor wire and self-portraits featuring children crying.
These conditions are being used by Papua New Guinea’s opposition leader, Belden Namah to challenge the legality of the detention camp on PNG land.
The case will be heard in the Supreme Court and argues that indefinitely detaining people without charge or trial violated PNG’s constitution.
The legal team running the case have already met several roadblocks. An early court injunction to stop Australia sending more refugees to the camp while the trial takes place was denied on February 13.
But the court did rule that denying refugees the right to legal advice, which has been the case of the island since it was opened, is a serious breach of human rights.
But when a lawyer travelled to Manus Island to hear statements from detainees he was refused entry to the detention camp, despite having court orders permitting the visit.
Namah’s lead lawyer, Loani Henao, told ABC Online he would “initiate contempt of court proceedings”.
“The fact of the matter is our lawyers have been refused access in contempt of the orders of the court.”
ABC said the department of immigration had said it funds and oversees the centre, but “providing legal advice is not its responsibility”.
Under the memorandum of understanding signed by Australia and Papua New Guinea, asylum seekers locked up in the camp are subject to PNG law. But at the same time, G4S has the power to refuse anyone access, including police, lawyers and political figures such as Knight.
This means Australia can deny responsibility for violating the human rights of people who had a genuine right to engage its protection obligations when they arrived in Australian waters.
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