Australia Election Results Trigger ‘Wave of Suicides and Self-Harm’ Among Manus Island Refugees

Reports from Manus Island in northern Papua New Guinea indicate that the victory of an anti-immigration coalition in Australia’s elections has sparked a wave of suicides and self-harm among refugees living on the island, many of whom are Iranian.

According to the French News Agency, Australian police report 10 suicide cases, with at least four occurring since Saturday when the conservative coalition’s victory in the elections became certain.

The report also indicates that a number of refugees engaged in self-harm over Saturday and Sunday, with some hospitalized, while other incidents of hunger strikes and setting fires in detention facility rooms have been reported.

Manus Island belongs to Papua New Guinea, but since 2013, the Australian government has converted it into a detention center for refugees attempting to reach the country by boat.

This past Saturday, the conservative coalition unexpectedly won Australia’s elections, an outcome that even Scott Morrison, the country’s conservative prime minister, described as a “miracle.”

This comes despite both political analysts and refugees, based on various poll results, expecting the center-left party to win the election. The center-left party takes a more lenient approach toward illegal immigrants and asylum seekers.

For the past six years, the Australian government has implemented strict policies against illegal immigrants to the country, under which no boats are allowed to travel toward the country’s waters to bring illegal migrants.

Approximately 800 refugees who had previously attempted to reach Australian soil were sent by the Australian government to detention facilities on remote islands, Nauru and Manus, conditions which have been described as harsh.

These refugees had recently hoped for a victory by the Australian Labor Party and consequently an improvement in refugee acceptance conditions.

More than a thousand men, women, and children, many of whom are said to be Iranian, live in detention camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, and have been told they will never be granted residency in Australia. Besides Iran, most refugees living on these islands are from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and Sudan.

Behrouz Boochani, an Iranian Kurdish refugee detained on Manus since 2013, told the French News Agency that since news of the conservative party’s victory arrived, “despair has cast a shadow over the refugees” and 9 refugees on Manus have attempted suicide.

He added that “the situation has spiraled out of control and I have never seen Manus in such a state before.”

Australian officials had previously stated that it is likely hundreds of refugees could remain indefinitely in the camps, as no other country is willing to accept them.

Australia had previously attempted to reach an agreement with Iranian officials for the return of Iranian refugees whose asylum applications were rejected, but refugee advocates say Iran refuses to accept rejected refugees who are being deported from other countries against their will.

Human rights defenders have repeatedly expressed concerns about the state of civil rights on the island, and numerous protests against the way the Australian government treats asylum seekers have been held in Australia.

Source: Radio Farda