As a former child refugee, I feel very strongly for the children on Nauru. I know the sense of uncertainty and hopelessness that comes from being stuck in limbo — not knowing if or when you might get to live freely in a safe country.

I was just 9 years old when my family fled Afghanistan for the third time in 2001, when the war in retaliation for the 9/11 attacks on America began.

Sorry, this video has expired The PM took aim at Labor as he slammed efforts to change Government policies.

I remember the first airstrike hitting 15 kilometres from where we lived. The missile shook the entire city.

We had to walk most of the way to cross the border into Pakistan, through Taliban-controlled areas.

When I reached Pakistan, I saw many other refugee children who were malnourished — they hadn't eaten for four or five days.

Eventually we came to a refugee camp in Peshawar — and we entered a state of limbo.

We couldn't return to war-torn Afghanistan, and we couldn't leave Pakistan.

We just had to wait, and hope that we would soon be allowed to live in a safe country, alongside the hundreds of thousands of other refugees and asylum seekers who were also waiting.

A policeman grabbed me by the throat

Dr Kerryn Phelps has tabled a private member's bill to get all children off Nauru and Manus Island. ( ABC News: Toby Hunt )

I ended up waiting there for 11 years. I lived all my teenage years in the camps, and still remember the constant stress I felt as a child.

Refugees were treated brutally in the community, and were often harassed.

I remember when I was just 13, a policeman grabbed me by the throat as I walked by, demanding my identity documents, which I did not have as a refugee. I was terrified.

On March 26, 2012, we finally learned that we had been granted the right to live in Australia on a humanitarian visa. I cannot describe the feeling.

I still remember arriving and seeing the teenagers here, and everything they had, and thinking how incredibly lucky they were, and yet didn't realise it.

A cancer that mentally kills you

Now, seeing what is happening to refugee children on Nauru, I'm lost for words. It's heinous, it's horrific.

The sense of fear and uncertainty among refugees comes from being trapped in limbo. ( AAP: Rural Australians for Refugees )

It reminds me of my time in Pakistan. That sense of fear and uncertainty that comes from being trapped in limbo with no sight of escape is a cancer that mentally kills you.

On Monday, Australia awoke to the news that the psychological suffering of children and families on Nauru is among the worst Médecins Sans Frontières has seen — they equated it to the suffering of torture victims.

Children as young as nine have been found to have self-harmed or attempted suicide. Some are suffering from resignation syndrome, which is when a patient enters a comatose state and needs medical care to stay alive.

Also on Monday, the new independent Member for Wentworth Dr Kerryn Phelps introduced a bill to the Federal Parliament requiring the urgent evacuation of asylum seeker children from Nauru for medical treatment.

This came after intense pressure from the community, and the Kids Off Nauru campaign, of which Plan International Australia is a part.

These children are innocent

All children deserve to live freely in a safe country, Sayed Rabbani says. ( Reuters )

The Australian Government must honour international laws around the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers.

And they need to listen to the people — the voters. We are disgusted with how these children are being treated.

Last week, the Kids Off Nauru coalition handed over a petition which 165,000 Australians had signed.

The Government missed the campaign deadline to remove all children from Nauru by November 20, Universal Children's Day. They must not delay any further.

Every moment longer causes more suffering, which will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

These children are innocent — and just like all children, they deserve to live freely in a safe country.

Sayed Rabbani is a fundraising coordinator at Plan International Australia.