The asylum seeker children on Nauru are in many ways no different from children in Australia. They play football, run around and fall over, get into small scuffles and get up to mischief. According to one report in the Nauru files, a small group entered a playgroup tent out of hours and took a Spider-Man outfit, cat and dog puppets and other toys. It was clearly an adventure for them – and one they relished. One of the boys wore the superhero outfit to school the next day.

But something far more unsettling lies beyond reports of squabbles and misbehaviour. The children growing up inside the Nauru detention centre are exposed to trauma on a constant basis. The Nauru files expose for the first time the scale of self-harm, assault and abuse they are enduring, as witnessed by their teachers, caseworkers and guards.



The Nauru files: 2,000 leaked reports reveal scale of abuse of children in Australian offshore detention Read more

The environment is difficult for even the most resilient individuals. Save the Children caseworkers charged with caring for the welfare of asylum seekers are not permitted to stay on the island for more than five weeks at a time. They are told this is because it could have a detrimental impact on their mental health.



The asylum seeker children have no such luxury. They are under constant surveillance. The Nauru files reveal that threats of, attempts at and instances of self-harm occur constantly, sometimes daily.

One girl was observed colouring in her school book. But as the teacher looked over her shoulder she saw that the girl had pencilled the words “I want death” and “I need death”.



A June 2014 report told of another child ripping up his books in anger because the teacher did not put a tick next to his name. The teacher wrote: “He then told me his mother is on hunger strike, refuses to eat and he can’t sleep or think as his mother is so upset. He said she cries all day and refuses to hug him. He is dreaming of blood and death and zombies and is pacing at 2am in the morning and needs his mother.”



Throughout 2014 and with increasing regularity, some children show highly sexualised behaviour. Some of this has been documented by the former integrity commissioner Philip Moss in Australia in his review into allegations at the centre, but much has not been reported publicly.



He then told me his mother is on hunger strike, refuses to eat and he can’t sleep or think as his mother is so upset Report from June 2014

One report told of a boy playing with dolls who started “kissing their private area”. He encouraged other children to do the same.



Throughout 2014 caseworkers saw young boys and girls sitting on the laps of Nauruan guards working for Wilson Security, or witnessed the guards handing over sweets or treats to them.



In July 2014 two Save the Children workers reported seeing a child “leaning her backside into the crotch of [name redacted]”. “There were two other young girls with hands touching [REDACTED],” one wrote. “[REDACTED] did not attempt to remove the children. I asked the girls to go see their mum as they had just returned from school.”



Another from the same month reported a boy being bounced on the lap of a guard, who was whispering in his ear. Another one still said an officer had given the children lollipops and chewing gum.

Most of these witness reports are from child protection officers, in handwriting sometimes neat and sometimes messy. They draw no inferences and add no commentary. But they know to document these observations. In Australia they would trigger an immediate response; in Nauru all they can do is write. And wait.

These reports persist, the cases growing worse in their severity. In September 2014 a teacher sat with a sobbing young classroom helper who alleged abuse in detention on Christmas Island and on Nauru. She told of requesting a four-minute shower instead of a two-minute shower. “Her request has been accepted on condition of sexual favours,” the teacher wrote. “It is a male security person. She did not state if this has or hasn’t occurred. The security officer wants to view a boy or girl having a shower.”



Another report from that month told of a girl who had sewn her lips together. A Wilson Security guard saw her and began laughing at her. The girl’s father sought an apology the next evening but was told the guard was at the airport. According to the report the asylum seeker then went and “significantly self-harmed”.

When a baby is born to parents in detention on Nauru, they receive not a six-digit ID, but a seven-digit one

The next month a child under 10 was overheard by a teacher talking to her friends. She said she wanted to drink mosquito liquid so she could die. “[REDACTED] then said she was joking,” the teacher wrote.

“She went on to say that everyone was becoming a refugee or going to Australia because they were sick or having a baby – but not her or her family. She then said that [REDACTED, her country] was very dangerous now so she wants to go back to her country to die.”



The girls all giggled.



The next month a child at the secondary school took a numeracy test. The child simply wrote “I like death” and “I don’t want life”. She drew what looks like a drooping flower.



In 2014 the then immigration minister, Scott Morrison, commissioned the Moss review into allegations of sexual assault and abuse. It was these incident reports that spurred the government into setting up that review.



But despite the release of Moss’s report in 2015, and his raft of recommendations, the reports have kept coming. All the way up to October 2015 – when the Nauru files end – they show children in distress and exhibiting sexualised behaviour.



One girl cut her wrist in October 2015. She didn’t tell anyone for three days because she was worried about getting into trouble. The caseworker wrote that she self-harmed because she “was sad”; her friends were being allowed to enter the Nauruan community and she feared being left alone in the detention centre.



Another report, in the same month, stated that a number of children had been taking down their pants in the recreation area and shaking their genitals.



Babies born in detention

Some of the women on the island became pregnant. Some opted for abortions. A risk assessment from Save the Children warned strongly against infants being detained on the island but Australia’s immigration department continued to send them there.



As the months went on these babies, born into detention, began to appear in the Nauru files. The strain was palpable. In one report from June 2015 two caseworkers told of visiting a couple of new parents. They told the caseworkers: “We want to give our baby to Save the Children and we want to die. We don’t want anything for us we just want our baby to be safe. Our baby is not safe here.”



Others voiced similar fears. In October that year a pregnant asylum seeker, who, a caseworker wrote, appeared “agitated, hot and in tears”, said she was not allowed to have her baby in Australia. She wanted to give up her child for adoption: “I give my baby to Australia to look after.”



The Nauru files: the lives of asylum seekers in detention detailed in a unique database – interactive Read more

Some were even more distressed. One woman threatened to kill herself and her unborn baby, shattered by the decision to force her to come to term in Nauru. She showed a razor to a caseworker and “gestured moving the razor across her stomach”.



In the incident reports and throughout Australia’s immigration department, asylum seekers are often referred to by their “boat ID” – a six-digit combination of letters and numbers tied to the asylum seeker vessel they arrived on.



But when a baby is born to parents in detention on Nauru, they receive not a six-digit ID, but a seven-digit one.

It is a numerical system that is expanding. How many more digits will be added?

• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. Hotlines in other countries can be found here

