Australiaâ„¢s Immigration Minister Tony Burke has slammed recent Å“horrific” torture and rape claims at one of his countryâ„¢s asylum-seeking processing camps in Papua New Guinea.
Burke made the remarks on Wednesday, after a former official at the Manus Island camp said asylum-seekers were being tortured and raped.
“The allegations were horrific. I wish I’d had an opportunity to get the specifics of them earlier than last night because I would’ve started acting on them earlier than last night,” Burke said.
Rod St George, the centerâ„¢s former head of occupational health and safety, said that instances of self-harm and attempted suicide were also seen on an almost daily basis.
“I’ve never seen human beings so destitute, so helpless and so hopeless before.”
On July 19, Australiaâ„¢s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd signed an agreement with Papua New Guinea to send all asylum-seekers arriving by boat to the poverty-stricken island nation.
Å“From now on, any asylum seeker who arrives in Australia by boat will have no chance of being settled in Australia as refugee,” Rudd said.
Last week, Australian Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said that the high number of asylum-seekers drowning on their way to the country is a major problem.
Over 15,000 asylum-seekers have arrived in Australia so far this year. Last year, the country received some 16,000 asylum requests.
A majority of the poorly maintained and overloaded asylum-seeker boats come from Indonesia, carrying migrants in search of a better life in Australia.
On July 23, three asylum-seekers, including two children and one woman, died after their boat set for Australia sank off Indonesiaâ„¢s Java Island.
SZH/PR
Republished from: Press TV