This is a compilation of the tweets by the Asia Pacific Regional Coordinator of the International Detention Coalition. For live updates, follow @IDCAsiaPacific
Regional: A wall to be built on the Malaysia Thailand border despite evidence policies of deterrence are not effective.
“Push-backs, building walls, increasing detention will never be the answer.” UNHCR warms against growing politicisation of refugee and asylum matters.
The Unite
d Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Francois Crépeau, postponed his planned official visit to Australia due to the lack of full cooperation from the Government regarding protection concerns and access to detention centres.
The Special Rapporteur cited the new controversial Border Force Act 2015, which sanctions a two-year prison sentence for service workers in detention centres who provide ‘protected information’, saying this would impact his ability to get a full picture of what is happening inside Australian run detention centres.
Nauru: Officers of Save The Children charity workers raided by police, seizing computers and phones
Concerns over how Malaysia will respond to next influx of Rohingya; many still in detention.
NGOs condemn arrest and detention of 80 people, including 60 refugees and asylum seekers in Penang, Malaysia.
Malaysia: Congratulations to IDC member Suka Society for winning the 2015 UN Malaysia Award!
Australia: “Abyan’s” Plight Is Not A Travesty Of Justice, It’s A Deliberate Denial Of It. A 23-year old Somali woman known under the pseudonym ‘Abyan’, held in Australia’s asylum seeker detention centre on Nauru, recently sought access to Australia’s health system. She claimed to have been raped and wanted to consider terminating the resulting pregnancy.
Following public pressure in support of Abyan’s right to access abortion, she was flown to Australia. Within a week of arriving, Abyan was returned to Nauru, with the Australian Government’s Immigration Minister Peter Dutton claiming Abyan decided against the termination.
Abyan wrote a letter upon her return to Nauru, stating that she had not denied the termination, but had instead been asking for counselling. Advocates continue to put pressure on the Australian Immigration Department to bring Abyan back to Australia and to provide her with the urgent care she requires. Read more here.
Afghan asylum seeker dies after self-immolation during video call to refugee advocates. Living in Western Australia on a bridging visa, Khodayar Amini told refugee advocates Sarah Ross and Michelle Bui whilst on the call, that he feared he would be returned to detention because police and immigration department staff wanted to interview him.
Internal document leaked from the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection reveals Australia’s complicity in Nauru detention.
The Australian Human Rights Commission’s Universal Periodic Review on human rights highlights concern for ongoing system of mandatory immigration detention.
The uncertain future of a young asylum seeker in Australia. He does not know his fate, he is not allowed to ask. Week after week, month after month, he waits.
Australia’s Mental Health Week is a time to remember the forgotten children in immigration detention.
Rape victims and whistleblower speak out about Nauru violence. CONTENT WARNING: Harrowing footage of Somali refuge pleading for help from Nauru Police after being raped, in this must-see ABC 730 Report.
Australian hospital staff take a stand against locking kids up in immigration detention. Read more here.
Detention centres will be ‘a dark mark on our history’. Australian panel discussion on Islamic radicalisation, refugees and children in detention.
Reinstating protection to prevent child abuse in detention is a positive step; but no child needs to be detained.
Australia’s medical fraterninty has argued in a landmark joint statement that juvenile justice facilities, and prisons should be opened up to an independent monitor to stop abuse and mistreatment of detainees.
Eighteen of Australia’s peak health bodies issued the statement urging the Australian government to ratify the UN’s optional protocol to the convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, known as Opcat.
Immigration detention in Australia is more than twice as expensive as in comparable countries in Europe and North America, new research from the IDC has found.
Brave new life – refugees in Australia. A heart-warming reunification story of Syrian refugees arriving in Sydney.
Thailand: Syrian refugees in Bangkok: caught between a rock and a hard place.
Rohingya trafficking victims endure stress of limbo, in Thai shelters and immigration detention centres.
Myanmar: ‘Intensified’ Crackdown Seen Ahead of Myanmar’s Election, on both political activists and the Muslim Rohingya minority group, whom are denied voting rights.
Manus Island: Men accused of Iranian asylum seeker Reza Barati’s death in Australian-run detention centre stand trial, 18 months after the murder.