Nauru president loses seat in election

Yahoo – AFP, August 25, 2019

Voters went to the polls on Saturday and selected two rival candidates over
Baron Waqa (AFP Photo/Angela Weiss)

Nauru's president, a strong supporter of Australia's hardline policy of detaining refugees on the tiny Pacific island nation, has lost his seat in a general election, official results showed Sunday.

Voters went to the polls on Saturday and selected two rival candidates over Baron Waqa in his electorate of Boe, ending the 59-year-old's six years in office.

His successor will not be known until the 19-member parliament meets to choose a new president, with finance minister David Adeang considered a favourite after being re-elected.

Waqa proved a controversial leader at times and Australia's Lowy Institute think tank last year said the country of 11,000 "lurched towards authoritarianism" under his leadership.

His government has made it difficult for international media visiting Nauru to report on conditions facing asylum seekers.

It also introduced laws carrying heavy jail terms for political protesters and at times curbed access to sites such as Facebook, which critics said was aimed at curbing dissent.

Australia's policy of processing asylum seekers on Nauru -- and the equally remote Manus island in Papua New Guinea -- has proved an economic lifeline for a country which exhausted its previous source of wealth: phosphate deposits used as fertiliser.

Nauru's government revenues ballooned from Aus$20 million (US$13 million) in 2010-11 to Aus$115 million (US$77 million) in 2015-16 largely due to fees paid by Canberra linked to the asylum policy, official Australian data shows.

Refugee advocates estimate around 300 refugees remain on the island, down from a peak of about 1,200 in 2014.

Rights groups and the United Nations have consistently criticised the conditions faced by refugees, warning indefinite detention causes mental health problems and suicide attempts.

The Refugee Action Coalition said the latest incident occurred on Friday, when a Pakistani man it identified only as Jamal set himself on fire.

It said the man was believed to be in a critical condition in intensive care after being flown from Nauru to Brisbane for medical treatment.

"Jamal is another casualty of Australia offshore detention policy. After six years on Nauru, refugees have no secure future. They have lost hope," spokesman Ian Rintoul said.

"Over 300 refugees remain on Nauru, but the government has no resettlement plans."

Britain should give up Chagos Islands: UN court

Yahoo – AFP, Danny KEMP, Jan HENNOP, February 25, 2019

Britain allowed a few of the evicted Chagossian islanders back for a brief visit in 

2006 (AFP Photo/STRINGER)

The Hague (AFP) - Britain should give up control of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean "as rapidly as possible", the UN's top court said Monday in a decades-old row with Mauritius over an archipelago that is home to a huge US airbase.

The International Court of Justice said in a legal opinion that Britain had illegally split the islands from Mauritius before independence in 1968, after which the entire population of islanders was evicted.

Mauritius and the exiled Chagossians reacted with delight to the "historic" opinion delivered by judges in The Hague, which is non-binding but will carry heavy symbolic and political weight.

Britain however defended its hold on the islands, saying the Diego Garcia military base, which has been used to bomb Iraq and Afghanistan, protected people around the world.

"The United Kingdom's continued administration of the Chagos Archipelago constitutes a wrongful act," chief judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf said.

"The United Kingdom is under an obligation to bring an end to its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible, thereby allowing Mauritius to complete the decolonisation of its territory."

The UN General Assembly in 2017 adopted a resolution presented by Mauritius and backed by African countries asking the ICJ to offer legal advice on the island chain's fate and the legality of the deportations.

'So happy'

Colonial power Britain split off the islands from Mauritius -- which lies around 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) away -- three years before Port Louis gained independence in 1968. It also paid Mauritius three million pounds.

Between 1968 and 1973 around 2,000 Chagos islanders were evicted, to Britain, Mauritius and the Seychelles, to make way for a military base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands. The evictions were described in a British diplomatic cable at the time as the removal of "some few Tarzans and Man Fridays".

The Chagos Islanders have already taken their battle through the courts in Britain,
where their supporters include the current leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn 
(second from the right in this 2007 photo) (AFP Photo/ADRIAN DENNIS)

Diego Garcia is now under lease to the United States and played a key strategic role in the Cold War before being used as a staging ground for US bombing campaigns against Afghanistan and Iraq in the 2000s.

Olivier Bancoult, chairman of the Mauritius-based Chagos Refugees Group, told reporters outside court that he was "so happy".

"It is a big victory against an injustice done by the British government for many years. We people have been suffering for many years -- I am so lucky today," he said.

Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth hailed it as a " historic moment for Mauritius and all its people".

"Our territorial integrity will now be made complete, and when that occurs, the Chagossians and their descendants will finally be able to return home," he said in a statement.

The ICJ opinion comes as a stunning blow to London in a case that goes to the heart of historic issues of decolonisation and current questions about Britain's place in the world as it prepares to leave the European Union.

Mauritius' lawyer Philippe Sands said there was "no wiggle room" in the judges' view and that Britain would resist pressure to comply.

"I suspect the United Kingdom will say to itself, what resistance can we put up to moving forward -- and particularly in the context of Brexit, as the United Kingdom finds itself a little bit isolated in the world," he told reporters outside court.

Britain's foreign ministry rejected the court's opinion.

"The defence facilities on the British Indian Ocean Territory help to protect people here in Britain and around the world from terrorist threats, organised crime and piracy," the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in a statement.

'Shameful' evictions

When judges heard the case in September, Mauritius argued that it was illegal for Britain to have broken up its territory while it was still the colonial power.

Britain, while apologising for the "shameful" way it evicted thousands of islanders, insisted Mauritius was wrong to have brought the case to the ICJ.

The United States meanwhile said the court had a "duty" not to take a position on the row.

The Chagos Islanders have already taken their battle through the courts in Britain, where their supporters included the current Labour opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

The legal opinion is only the 28th since the ICJ was set up in 1946 in the wake of World War II to provide a tribunal to resolve disputes between UN member states.

Previously such opinions include one on Israel's West Bank barrier in 2004, which judges said was illegal, and declaring legal Kosovo's declaration of independence in 2010.c

Pope urges clean up of plastic waste from oceans

Yahoo – AFP, 1 September 2018

Pope Francis said access to water was a basic right

Pope Francis on Saturday issued a call to clear up oceans threatened by plastic waste and underscored the need to provide drinking water to all as a basic right.

"We cannot allow our seas and oceans to be littered by endless fields of floating plastic," the pontiff said in a message on the fourth World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.

"Sadly, all too many efforts fail due to the lack of effective regulation and means of control, particularly with regard to the protection of marine areas beyond national confines."

The pope also said that access "to safe drinkable water is a basic and universal human right" and deplored that for many it was "difficult if not impossible.

"Our world owes a great social debt towards the poor who lack access to drinking water, because they are denied the right to a life consistent with their inalienable dignity," he said.

US Coast Guard won't 'break faith' with transgender members

Yahoo – AFP, Thomas WATKINS, August 1, 2017

US President Donald Trump's announced ban against transgender people
serving in the US military has sparked protests, like this one in New York's Times
Square last month, as well as headaches for leaders of the armed services
(AFP Photo/Jewel SAMAD)

Washington (AFP) - The head of the US Coast Guard said Tuesday he would not "break faith" with transgender personnel, after President Donald Trump said they would be banned from the military.

In a series of three tweets last week, Trump upended an Obama-era policy of more than a year that allowed transgender troops to serve openly.

His tweeted announcement came with little or no coordination with the Pentagon and landed while Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was on vacation, leaving the astonished department scrambling to come up with a coherent response.

Speaking at a Washington think tank, Admiral Paul Zukunft, who is the commandant of the Coast Guard, said the service had reached out to the 13 Coast Guardsmen who have come out as transgender.

"Very small numbers, but all of them are doing meaningful Coast Guard work today," he said.

The Coast Guard is a branch of the military and generally follows the Department of Defense on personnel matters.

Zukunft said he had read a story in The Washington Post about a young lieutenant who had undergone gender reassignment surgery and was worried about Trump's tweets that transgender troops would not be allowed to serve "in any capacity" in the military.

"I reached out personally to Lieutenant Taylor Miller, who was featured on the cover of The Washington Post last week," Zukunft told the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"Taylor's family has disowned her. Her family is the United States Coast Guard. And I told Taylor, 'I will not turn my back. We have made an investment in you, and you have made an investment in the Coast Guard, and I will not break faith.' So that is the commitment to our people right now."

Pentagon awaits guidance

When asked whether Zukunft's comments meant the Coast Guard would disregard Trump's tweets, spokeswoman Lisa Novak told AFP: "Those comments are made by the commandant, and those are his own comments."

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she had not yet heard Zukunft's remarks.

"I know that the goal is to work with all of the relevant departments, primarily the Department of Defense, to lawfully implement that new policy," she said.

In a statement, the Coast Guard said it "follows closely with the DOD on human resources policies. We are currently in contact with them on how those policies may be effected."

Zukunft added that the Coast Guard had stood up a team of military lawyers following Trump's tweets.

In the six days since Trump's tweets, the White House has still not provided the Pentagon with clear directives on how it should implement a transgender ban, so the current policy remains in place for now.

The Pentagon has not been able to say whether Mattis was even consulted about the ban ahead of time or merely informed after the decision was made.

Meanwhile, the Palm Center think tank, which focuses on sexual minorities in the military, published a statement signed by 56 retired generals and admirals.

"This proposed ban, if implemented, would cause significant disruptions, deprive the military of mission-critical talent, and compromise the integrity of transgender troops who would be forced to live a lie, as well as non-transgender peers who would be forced to choose between reporting their comrades or disobeying policy," the statement read.

Thai seafood giant commits to major fishing reforms

Yahoo – AFP, July 11, 2017

Greenpeace activists stand inside a large mock-up of a canned tuna in front of the Thai
Union headquarters in Bangkok on October 29, 2015 (AFP Photo/NICOLAS ASFOURI)

Thai Union, one of the world's largest seafood conglomerates, said Tuesday it will overhaul its fishing practices to protect against labour abuses and unsustainable trawling, a move hailed by Greenpeace as "huge progress".

The Thai food giant -- which owns major global brands such as Chicken of the Sea, John West and Petit Navire -- has long been a bete noire to those campaigning against overfishing and abusive working conditions on boats.

But on Tuesday it released a joint statement with Greenpeace announcing a series of reforms that both said should encourage other seafood behemoths to follow suit.

"This marks huge progress for our oceans and marine life and for the rights of people working in the seafood industry," Greenpeace International Executive Director Bunny McDiarmid said in the statement.

"Now is the time for other companies to step up, and show similar leadership."

Among the commitments Thai Union has made is to cut the number of fish aggregating devices (FADs) it uses by 50 percent by 2020 and reduce longline fishing.

FADs, which float on the surface to attract fish, and longlines are effective ways of catching large hauls of lucrative fish like tuna.

But they often result in reams of other animals being caught, including endangered sharks and turtles.

The reforms will also target working conditions on board Thai Union boats and those of its suppliers including an extended moratorium on "transshipping".

Transshipping is a method many fishing giants use to keep trawlers at sea as long as possible, often for years at a time.

Catches are transferred to refrigerated transport vessels at sea, saving the time and fuel costs of returning to port.

While economically efficient, environmental groups have long warned that transshipping allows trawlers to hide illegal catches and often leads to slavery-like conditions for many of the low-paid fishermen who spend years onboard their boats.

Thai Union have also agreed to allow independent observers or digital tracking devices onto all their longline boats and will meet with Greenpeace every six months to assess implementation.

In the joint statement, CEO Thiraphong Chansiri said his company "has fully embraced its role as a leader for positive change as one of the largest seafood companies in the world."

Thai Union posted worldwide sales of $3.8 billion in 2016 and is targeting $8 billion revenue by 2020.

Thailand is the world's third largest seafood exporter but the industry has been dogged by allegations of rights abuses and cheap labour in its fishing fleets and many food processing factories.

The sector is mainly staffed by poor migrant workers from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.

The European Union has threatened to ban all its seafood products unless the military government tackles rampant illegal fishing among its fleets.

Refugees in Australia's remote camps offered US resettlement

Yahoo – AFP, Glenda Kwek, November 13, 2016

A refugee is seen walking between tents at Australia's regional processing centre
on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea (AFP Photo/Refugee Action Coalition)

Sydney (AFP) - Refugees held on remote Pacific camps after trying to reach Australia by boat will be resettled in the US in a "one-off" deal, the premier says, a breakthrough that could see the controversial facilities closed.

Canberra sends asylum-seekers who try to reach Australia by boat to detention facilities on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island and Nauru. They are blocked from resettling in Australia even if found to be refugees.

"The arrangements with the United States will offer the opportunity for refugees, both on Nauru and Manus, to be resettled," Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters in Canberra.

"It is a one-off agreement. It will not be repeated... Our priority is the resettlement of women, children and families."

Successive Australian governments have sought to stem waves of boat migration by people from war-torn Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and the Middle East, using harsh policies including turning back the vessels, and strict secrecy about operations on the high seas and at the remote camps.

Although the latest policies by the current conservative government largely stopped the arrivals, conditions in the camps have been widely criticised by refugee advocates and medical professionals.

They say some asylum-seekers suffer from mental health problems due to their prolonged, indefinite detention.

The UNHCR said the arrangement was a "much-needed, long-term solution" but warned that options should be found for everyone on Manus and Nauru.

"This announcement is full of holes. No timeframe. No numbers," added Daniel Webb from the Human Rights Law Centre, which has challenged offshore detention in court.

"This ugly chapter in our history only closes when every single man, woman and child suffering at our government's hand on Nauru and Manus is finally rebuilding their lives in safety. No one can be left behind."

Map and factfile on Australia's immigration detention facilities (AFP Photo)

Trump uncertainty

The arrangement followed Turnbull's announcement in September that Australia would join a US-led programme to resettle Central American refugees at a Costa Rica centre.

Turnbull said officials from the US Department of Homeland Security would be arriving in Australia "in the next few days".

But he could not say how many refugees would be offered US resettlement and if the agreement would continue under the incoming Donald Trump administration.

President-elect Trump said on the campaign trail that he would tighten immigration, particularly for Muslims.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is in New Zealand, confirmed the deal, adding that "we in the United States have agreed to consider referrals from (UN refugee body) UNHCR on refugees now residing in Nauru and in Papua New Guinea".

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said asylum-seekers whose refugee applications are rejected would be expected to return home.

Refugees who are offered the US move but reject it would be offered a 20-year Nauru visa, while any future boat arrivals will not be eligible for the deal.

Dutton stressed the deal was not an incentive for people-smugglers to send more asylum-seekers by boat, with Canberra set to ramp up its marine border patrols to turn back vessels.

No 'indefinite detention'

A resettlement agreement with Phnom Penh struck in 2014 was criticised after only several refugees made the move.

Refugees can also resettle in PNG, although only about two dozen have taken up that option, Port Moresby said last month. Others reportedly cited safety fears in not wanting to settle in the Pacific country.

Labor opposition leader Bill Shorten welcomed the potential "end to indefinite detention, especially for genuine refugees".

Australia agreed in August close the Manus camp following a PNG Supreme Court ruling in April declaring that holding people there was unconstitutional and illegal.

Dutton said Sunday that Nauru "will remain in its current status forever" without elaborating further. Fairfax Media reported Saturday that Canberra wanted to close both centres by 2019.

Some 675 asylum-seekers on Manus and 941 on Nauru out of more than 2,000 applications have been successful in obtaining initial or final refugee status, the immigration department said earlier this month.

Canberra has long defended its policy of denying asylum-seekers resettlement in Australia, saying it has prevented deaths at sea.

Papua New Guinea announces Australian refugee center closure

A Supreme Court ruling means an Australian-run refugee detention facility on Papua New Guinea is illegal and must close. Now PNG is working with Australia to find a new place for the refugees to go.

Deutsche Welle, 27 April 2016

The island nation of Papua New Guinea has announced it will close a center for asylum seekers it had been hosting on behalf of Australia. This comes a day after the Supreme Court in Papa New Guinea deemed it was unconstitutional to allow Australia to detain asylum seekers on the country's Manus Island.

"Respecting this ruling, Papua New Guinea will immediately ask the Australian government to make alternative arrangements for the asylum-seekers currently held at the regional processing center," Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said in a statement on Wednesday.

No exceptions

Australian policy regarding those who attempt to enter the country illegally by boat is to reject them and send them to detention camps, paid for by the Australian government, in Papua New Guinea and the island nation of Nauru. Those found to have legitimate claims for asylum can be resettled in Papua New Guinea or Cambodia under agreements reached between Australia and those two countries.

Regarding the current asylum seekers on Manus Island, O'Neill said that legitimate refugees were welcome to live in Papua New Guinea "only if they want to be a part of our society and make a contribution to our community," but added: "It is clear that several of these refugees do not want to settle in Papua New Guinea and that is their decision."

There are currently over 800 asylum seekers being held on Manus Island, and Papua New Guinea will now being working with Australian officials about where to relocate the people being detained. Australia has made it clear that under no circumstances will they be resettled in Australia.

Self-immolation

Meanwhile, a 23-year-old refugee in an Australian-run detention facility on Nauru is set to be airlifted to an Australian hospital after setting himself on fire Tuesday during a routine visit of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, to the facility.

According to news reports, the man shouted "I can not take this any more" before setting himself on fire. Bystanders quickly attempted to douse the flames with water and blankets.

The man is in critical condition, but Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has said his application for asylum would not be influenced.

mz/kms (Reuters, AFP, AP)

Australia doctors demand children be freed from #immigration detention http://t.co/oSHkZyvn5V pic.twitter.com/s9yLBKHA2Z

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 12, 2015

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Australian hospital refuses to return asylum baby to Nauru

Yahoo – AFP, Glenda Kwek, 14 February 2016

Greenpeace holds a #LetThemStay banner on Sydney's harbour calling for the 

asylum-seekers, who are set to be deported after being brought to Australia 

for medical treatment, to be allowed to stay (AFP Photo/Peter Parks)

An Australian hospital has refused to return an asylum-seeker baby to detention in Nauru, as momentum built across the country on Sunday against offshore Pacific camps for processing refugees.

Under the government's tough immigration policy, asylum-seekers who try to reach Australia by boat are sent to detention camps in the Pacific island nations of Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

They are blocked from being resettled in Australia even if found to be refugees.

The hospital's move came as state governments, churches and activists stepped up their efforts to stop the return of some 267 refugees to Nauru following a High Court ruling.

On Sunday, campaigners from ActionAid, Amnesty International, GetUp! and Greenpeace unfurled a #LetThemStay banner on Sydney's iconic harbour calling for the asylum-seekers, who are set to be deported after being brought to Australia for medical treatment, to be allowed to stay.

People hold placards at a protest outside an immigration office in Sydney on February 4, 

2016, as Australian church leaders say they would offer sanctuary to asylum-seekers set to be

deported to Nauru to defy the government's harsh immigration policy (AFP Photo/William West)

The #LetThemStay campaign, which has been trending on Twitter, has also seen hundreds of people maintain a vigil -- now in its third day -- outside the Brisbane hospital where the baby is being cared for.

The 12-month-old infant, who is called Asha and the child of Nepalese asylum-seekers, was brought to the eastern city of Brisbane for treatment in late January after being scalded with hot water at the remote Nauru facility.

Following the High Court's ruling earlier this month in favour of the government's policies, Asha and 36 other babies born in Australia are among the asylum-seekers facing removal.

But a spokesman for Brisbane's Lady Cilento Children's Hospital said Asha "will only be discharged once a suitable home environment is identified".

Growing political, community support

Their stance was supported by Queensland state's Health Minister Cameron Dick, who said in a statement Sunday that he "strongly support(s) doctors in our hospitals to make the right clinical decisions".

"Doctors must expect to advocate for their patients," Doctors For Refugees co-founder Richard Kidd, who has joined the vigil outside the hospital, told AFP.

People protest outside an immigration office in Sydney on February 4, 2016, as 

Australian church leaders say they would offer sanctuary to asylum-seekers set to

 be deported to Nauru, to defy the government's harsh immigration policy (AFP 

Photo/William West)

"We have... overwhelming evidence over many years now that detention does terrible harm to babies and children, particularly their mental health but also physical health."

Australian church leaders in early February vowed to defy the federal government, offering sanctuary to the asylum-seekers.

Several state government premiers have said they would help settle in their communities those facing deportation if they were allowed to stay.

There have also been numerous community-led protests. Thirty-seven cots -- one for each of the Australia-born babies -- were set up on Sydney's Bondi Beach, while two campaigners abseiled from a Melbourne bridge with a "Let Them Stay" banner.

"I think the case of the 267 people has just really spoken to the hearts of the people across Australia," GetUp! organiser Sally Rugg told AFP.

"It's people from all walks of life. We are seeing churches and hospitals and teachers and premiers, it's a whole movement."

Canberra has long defended its policy, saying it has prevented the deaths of asylum-seekers at sea and secured its borders.

But rights groups have criticised the measures and detention conditions, while the government-funded Human Rights Commission has found that children who lived in the Nauru centre had high levels of mental illness.

"This offshore detention policy is being operated by the Australian government in secrecy and there's a severe lack of transparency and that's obviously not how people of Australia want their taxpayers' money being spent," Amnesty's Ming Yu Hah told AFP.

Australia doctors demand children be freed from #immigration detention http://t.co/oSHkZyvn5V pic.twitter.com/s9yLBKHA2Z

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 12, 2015

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Amnesty: Australia paid off people smugglers to turn back boats

International rights group Amnesty International claims it has uncovered evidence suggesting Australian officials paid people smugglers to turn back a boat full of migrants attempting to reach New Zealand.

Deutsche Welle, 29 Oct 2015

Released on October 28, the Amnesty International (AI) report, titled "By hook or by crook," examines Australia's policy of intercepting and pushing back boats carrying migrants on high seas.

The 38-page document focuses on an incident that took place in May 2015, when a boat transporting 65 migrants from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar to New Zealand was turned back by Australia.

By conducting interviews with the asylum seekers on board, the boat crew as well as the Indonesian police, the report's authors say they found evidence that Australian officials paid the migrant boat's six-member crew about $32,000 and told them to take the people to Indonesia instead.

The Australians reportedly also provided verbal instructions and maps showing the crew where to land in Indonesia, the rights group added. The report also raises questions about whether Australian officials paid money to the crew of another boat turned back in July.

'A lawless venture'

Amnesty says Australian officials
paid about $32,000 to the migrant
boat's crew

Furthermore, AI criticized Australia's efforts to control its maritime border as "a lawless venture with evidence of criminal activity, pay-offs to boat crews and abusive treatment of women, men and children seeking asylum."

"All of the available evidence points to Australian officials having committed a transnational crime by, in effect, directing a people-smuggling operation, paying a boat crew and then instructing them on exactly what to do and where to land in Indonesia," said AI Refugee Researcher Anna Shea.

"In the two incidents documented by AI, Australian officials also put the lives of dozens of people at risk by forcing them onto poorly equipped vessels. When it comes to its treatment of those seeking asylum, Australia is becoming a lawless state," she noted.

A tougher policy

Allegations that Australian authorities paid people smugglers initially emerged in June this year. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) raised similar concerns after speaking with people on the ship. But then Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott refused to respond to the allegations, saying he wouldn't comment on operational issues.

Australia's approach towards irregular migrants has come under increased scrutiny in recent times.

Under former PM Abbott, who was in office until September, the government hardened its asylum policy as part of its "Operation Sovereign Borders" initiative, and began to either push back the boats to Indonesia or to send the migrants to offshore detention centers on islands such as Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

Australia hardened its asylum policy under former Prime Minister Tony Abbott

Last year, Australia also signed a deal with Cambodia to resettle asylum seekers there in exchange for millions of dollars.

The Australian government argues that this tough policy saves lives and prevents people smugglers from exploiting vulnerable and desperate migrants. Former PM Abbott even recently urged European countries, which are currently facing a refugee influx, to adopt similar policies to stem the flow of migrants.

Widespread abuse

Although rights groups acknowledge that Australia's approach has been ruthlessly effective in stopping boats packed with migrants from reaching the country's shores, they accuse Canberra of inhumane treatment of refugees and of failing to honor its international obligations.

Activists note that claims of abuse are rampant at the offshore detention sites, where hundreds of people - including women and children - are currently held.

The offshore detention centers in Nauru hold hundreds of migrants, including children

An Australian senate committee, dominated by the country's opposition, recently lambasted the detention centers as unsafe for asylum seekers and called for the immediate removal of children from the controversial facilities.

Despite criticism from rights advocates, polls have consistently shown that a significant number of Australians approve of the government's tough stance.

This is why Australia's new PM, Malcolm Turnbull, has so far not announced any changes to the hard-line measures, even though he said he was "concerned" about the centers.

Australia doctors demand children be freed from #immigration detention http://t.co/oSHkZyvn5V pic.twitter.com/s9yLBKHA2Z

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) October 12, 2015

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Australia doctors demand children be freed from immigration detention

Yahoo – AFP, Martin Parry, 12 Oct 2015

A woman holds a banner at a rally in support of refugees and asylum seekers,

in Sydney, on October 11, 2015 (AFP Photo/Peter Parks)

Australian doctors on Monday ramped up pressure on the government over its hardline policy on asylum-seekers, saying children they treat from immigration centres should not be returned to detention where conditions could harm them.

Thousands of Australians rallied over the weekend urging Pacific island detention camps be shut, and medical professionals at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne are reportedly refusing to discharge asylum-seeker patients if they are to be locked up again.

The stance was backed by the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP).

Ethnic Syrians attend a rally in support of

 refugees and asylum seekers, in Sydney, on

October 11, 2015 (AFP Photo/Peter Parks)

AMA president Brain Owler said children behind bars suffered psychologically and doctors faced an ethical dilemma.

"Doctors are put in a very difficult position," he told national radio.

"If we had a child that comes into our hospital that we feared if sending them back to an environment which we felt was going to be harmful, where they were at risk of abuse, we would be negligent if we sent them back to that environment.

"And that is what the doctors at the Royal Children's Hospital are saying. We cannot send children back to an environment where they're going to be harmed."

RACP president Nick Talley added in a statement that "time and again, the Australian public has seen inquiries and heard excuses for the wrongs committed against children inside these detention centres".

"The health and well-being of children should never be open to compromise. No child should be held in detention," he said.

All asylum-seekers coming by boat to Australia are now sent to camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru and ultimately denied resettlement in Australia even if they are found to be genuine refugees.

Although the tough policy, which also includes turning back boats, has stopped frequent drownings, human rights organisations have slammed the prolonged detention, particularly of children, as a breach of Australia's legal obligations.

Canberra has also been accused of drawing a veil of secrecy over its treatment of asylum-seekers with new laws introduced this year criminalising the disclosure of information about boatpeople in its care, including by doctors.

Harsh policy

Owler estimated some 200 children were being held, about half in Australia and the rest offshore. Government figures recently said 86 children were on Nauru.

Distressed about the welfare of dozens of patients brought to the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne while in immigration detention, staff on Sunday penned an emotive opinion piece for the Herald Sun newspaper.

A demonstrator (L) representing the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association, 

seen at a rally in support of refugees and asylum seekers, in Sydney, on October 11,

2015 (AFP Photo/Peter Parks)

"As health staff at a leading children's hospital, our duty is to support child health. We cannot accept or condone harm to children. Detention causes harm and it must end," it said.

"We call for moral leadership on this issue to find a solution, quickly -- to use alternatives to detention and to stop the harm."

The numbers of children in immigration detention peaked at 1,992 in mid-2013 under the former Labor administration, but they have been significantly reduced since the conservative government was elected in September that year.

Since ousting Tony Abbott for the leadership of the Liberal Party and the government last month, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has admitted to concerns about the Pacific camps. But he has given no indication of immediate policy changes.

"Nobody wants to have children in detention ... we have been working very hard to reduce those numbers," he told parliament Monday, while advocating a tough asylum-seeker policy as a necessary deterrent.

"We recognise that our border protection policy is tough, we recognise many would see it as harsh. But it has been proven to be the only way to stop those deaths at sea and to ensure that our sovereignty and our borders are safe."

Australia doctors demand children be freed from #immigration detention http://t.co/oSHkZyvn5V pic.twitter.com/s9yLBKHA2Z

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) 12 oktober 2015

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