Australia Questioned by UN Committee on ‘Inhumane’ Conditions at Detention Centres in Manus and Nauru

An anti-torture committee of the United Nations is investigating Australia's detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island. Asylum seekers are allegedly being sent to those centres with inhumane conditions.

This is the first time since 2008 that Australia is under scanner by the UN committee which works against inhuman, degrading or cruel treatment. Australia, one of the signatories to the UN anti-torture convention, has its records being checked at the moment. The Geneva committee asked for further information last Monday that included the over-representation of Indigenous Australians in prisons, debated counter-terrorism laws and asylum-seeker policies of the country, The Guardian reported.

Chairman Claudio Grossman heads the investigation panel that consists of 10 independent specialists. According to Grossman, both the UNHCR and Amnesty International have described Australia's offshore processing centres as "inhumane." He asked for a copy of the training manual of the guards who allegedly accompany people whenever they move one place to another at the centres. He also raised concerns that the centres are allegedly surrounded by fences.

Grossman criticised the Australian delegation as reports revealed that it would take 10 months to process refugee claims on Nauru and 2 years in Papua New Guinea. Grossman said that he could not imagine the number of people at the centres, who had no idea about where they were or what was going on. He also said that the lengthy process was bound to produce tremendous anxiety among them. He questioned Australia's mandatory detention policy as well. Grossman emphasised that children never belonged in detention centres. He questioned that use of the term "mandatory" which meant that there would not be any discretion. The UN committee also enquired about the alleged child sex abuse at the Nauru detention centre.

John Quinn, the head of the Australian delegation, is going to give a reply to the concerns raised by the committee on Tuesday. The Australian ambassador to the UN told the committee that it had given them "a lot of homework to do." Most of the questions asked by the committee during the two-hour session were about Australia's immigration policies. The committee is expected to submit its report on Australia on November 28, Perth Now reported.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au