Australians sick of being lectured by UN: Abbott
Australia fires back at the UN over a report saying that the country’s policies vis-à-vis asylum seekers are in contravention of the international convention against torture.
The independent report by the UN’s special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, due to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, states that Canberra has failed to facilitate adequate detention conditions, and demands a halt to the detention of children.
In reaction, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday, “I really think Australians are sick of being lectured to by the United Nations, particularly, given that we have stopped the boats, and by stopping the boats, we have ended the deaths at sea.”
The UN report also calls on the Australian government to put an end to the escalating violence in its Manus Island detention facility, which has been the focus of persisting acts of protest, including hunger strikes and violence by inmates, many of whom reportedly face indefinite detention.
Australia uses the detention facilities in Papua New Guinea, of which the Manus Island is a part, as well as in the tiny island of Nauru to hold up the refugees who attempt to reach the country illegally.
Abbott also claimed that the conditions at the detention facilities on Manus were “reasonable, under all the circumstances.”
He said blocking the dangerous people-smuggling route to Australia, mostly via Indonesia, was the “most humanitarian, the most decent, the most compassionate thing you can do.”
According to reports in January, asylums seekers in Australia-run detention centers on Manus Island stitched their lips and went on hunger strike to protest against their living conditions.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has described Australia’s camps on Manus and Nauru islands as “harsh” facilities that “impact very profoundly on the men, women and children housed there.”
HN/HJL/SS
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