Filippo Grandi says Australia causing physical and mental harm and should honour commitment to reunite families

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Australia’s bipartisan refusal to resettle any refugees held on Manus Island and Nauru continues to cause physical and psychological harm, and will deliberately and permanently split vulnerable families, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees has said.

In a statement condemning the offshore processing regime, high commissioner Filippo Grandi said Australia had failed to honour a “clear understanding” that vulnerable refugees held offshore with family in Australia could be reunited with them.

Australia is instead insisting that refugees held offshore must go to America – if accepted – or stay offshore.

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Grandi said Australia must end its “harmful practice” of outsourcing its legal responsibilities to refugees to poorer countries in the region.

“Australia’s policy of offshore processing in Papua New Guinea and Nauru ... has caused extensive, avoidable suffering for far too long,” Grandi said from Geneva. “Four years on, more than 2,000 people are still languishing in unacceptable circumstances. Families have been separated and many have suffered physical and psychological harm.”

At the weekend, both the Labor opposition and the Coalition government reaffirmed that no refugee under Australia’s control on Manus Island and Nauru would ever be considered for resettlement in Australia.

The Guardian understands that between 12 and 20 refugees held on Australia’s offshore islands have close relatives currently living in Australia – including husbands, wives, children, siblings and parents.

A significantly larger number, however, have been split for medical reasons – where one or several family members have been moved to Australia after suffering serious injury or illness, while family members remain offshore.

Families will be permanently split by the policy shared by the Coalition and Labor. The unity and protection of the family unit is a fundamental principle of international law.

Last November, the UNHCR reluctantly agreed to assist in the relocation of refugees from Australia’s offshore islands to the US but Grandi said it did so “on the clear understanding” that vulnerable refugees with close family ties to Australia would ultimately be allowed to settle there.

“UNHCR has recently been informed by Australia that it refuses to accept even these refugees and that they, along with the others on Nauru and Papua New Guinea, have been informed that their only option is to remain where they are, relocate to Cambodia or to be transferred to the United States,” he said.

“This means, for example, that some with serious medical conditions, or who have undergone traumatic experiences, including sexual violence, cannot receive the support of their close family members residing in Australia.”

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The UNHCR said that – in order to avoid prolonging the ordeal of those on offshore islands – it had been left with no other choice but to support the relocation of all refugees on PNG and Nauru to the US, even those who had close family members living in Australia.

“There is no doubt these vulnerable people, already subject to four years of punishing conditions, should be reunited with their families in Australia. This is the humane and reasonable thing to do.

“The Australian government’s decision to deny them this possibility is contrary to the fundamental principles of family unity and refugee protection, and to common decency.”

It is unusual for the high commissioner to personally comment on Australia’s asylum policies: Grandi’s previous comments have been on displacement and violence in Myanmar and large-scale forced migration in Africa.

Grandi reiterated the UNHCR’s long-held position that resettlement in PNG or Nauru was “wholly inappropriate” and did not meet international standards for protection.

He urged Australia to clear both Manus Island and Nauru of the refugees it has sent there, and to abandon the policy of offshore processing. He said Australia had a proud humanitarian tradition and that the UNHCR recognised and supported the need to save lives at sea and provide alternatives to dangerous journeys and exploitation by smugglers.

But he said offshore processing was neither a feasible nor legal solution.

“There is a fundamental contradiction in saving people at sea, only to mistreat and neglect them on land,” he said. “I urge Australia to bring an immediate end to the harmful practice of offshore processing, offer solutions to its victims, for whom it retains full responsibility, and work with us on future alternatives that save lives at sea and provide protection to people in need.

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“At a time of record levels of displacement globally, it is crucial that all states offer protection to survivors of war and persecution, and not outsource their responsibilities to others. Refugees, our fellow human beings, deserve as much.”

Professor Jane McAdam, director of UNSW’s Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, and the recipient of the 2017 Calouste Gulbenkian Prize for human rights, said the high commissioner choosing to personally comment on Australia’s policies was evidence of the seriousness of the UNHCR’s concern.

“The right to family life is universally recognised in human rights law, and the right to family unity is an inherent part of this. Australia’s offshore processing policy violates this right, and in addition is causing extreme psychological suffering that may amount to inhuman or degrading treatment, which also violates international law.

“As the High Commissioner notes, Australia’s refusal to let family members reunite is not only legally wrong, but is also unreasonable and contrary to common human decency.”

In response to a series of questions regarding offshore processing, a spokeswoman for the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, directed the Guardian to a Sunday television interview where the minister was asked whether there was any contingency under which the government might change its policy and allow any refugees currently held offshore to come to Australia.

“No. People will not be coming to Australia,” Dutton said.



Despite consistent revelations of physical violence – including murder – sexual abuse of women and children, allegations of torture by guards, medical neglect leading to death and catastrophic rates of mental health damage, self-harm and suicide attempts, both of Australia’s offshore processing centres remain operational after four years.

The US resettlement deal – touted by both the government and opposition as the resolution of Australia’s offshore regime – remains uncertain. No one has been resettled under the plan and US officials recently left the offshore islands once the country hit its cap for accepting refugees for this year. The quota resets in October.

The US is under no obligation to take a single refugee and, even if it does select some for resettlement, the Australian government says it will not be enough to clear the camps.