The Morrison Government must take action to protect the children, women and men held in its care in immigration detention in Australia and offshore in Nauru and Papua New Guinea, the Human Rights Law Centre has told the Senate Select Committee into COVID-19 in an urgent submission. 

The Human Rights Law Centre called for a hearing before the Committee, and recommended the Federal Government immediately take the following steps:   

1. Reduce the number of people in immigration detention in Australia by releasing people into safe housing where they can comply with public health advice.

2. Transfer people held in Nauru and Papua New Guinea to Australia before there is a widespread outbreak. 

David Burke, Legal Director with the Human Rights Law Centre, said infectious diseases experts have already called for people to be released from immigration detention centres in Australia, warning these facilities risk spreading COVID-19 like cruise ships. 

“Everyone deserves to be safe in the face of the unprecedented threat posed by COVID-19. But immigration detention facilities in Australia are creating unacceptable health risks for the people held there, the staff at these facilities, and the broader community. We act for people who are currently held in these detention centres who are terrified at the prospect of contracting COVID-19 and the fact they cannot protect themselves.”

Approximately 430 refugees and people seeking asylum remain under the Morrison Government’s care in Nauru and Papua New Guinea. There are already cases of COVID-19 in Papua New Guinea. Nauru has been assessed in the Global Health Security Index to be one of the least prepared countries in the world for an infectious disease like COVID-19. 

“The Morrison Government owes a duty of care to the refugees and people seeking asylum that it continues to warehouse in Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Neither country has the medical facilities to respond to a widespread outbreak. The Australian Government must urgently transfer people to safety in Australia before an outbreak begins to take its toll in those countries,” said Burke.

The Human Rights Law Centre has made this submission to the Committee to raise issues that require urgent attention. The Human Rights Law Centre will make a more detailed, comprehensive submission by the 28 May 2020 submission deadline on other pressing human rights concerns. 

Read an adapted version of the submission to the Senate Select Committee into COVID-19 here.

Media contact:

Michelle Bennett, Communications Director, Human Rights Law Centre, 0419 100 519