Secrecy and human rights abuse in Australia’s offshore immigration detention centres

Abstract

All asylum seekers who arrive in Australia's territorial waters by boat are subject to mandatory, indefinite and unreviewable detention on Nauru and Papua New Guinea. This offshore detention regime is characterised by a high degree of secrecy, low levels of transparency and accountability, and few opportunities for external oversight. This has created a closed, controlled environment, in which people are routinely neglected and harmed. To better understand the human impact of Australia’s offshore detention regime, this article draws on research from social psychology regarding human behaviour in closed institutions. This research – which has substantially informed prison policies throughout the Western world – demonstrates the critical importance of external oversight, openness and transparency for the protection of human rights of people in closed institutions. This knowledge has not been applied to Australia's offshore immigration detention regime. To the contrary: creating a closed, opaque system of detention has been an explicit policy goal of the Australian government. By actively restricting transparency, this research demonstrates that not only are the abuses of detainees' human rights hidden from the public eye, they are inevitable.

Keywords:

• immigration detention
• human rights
• transparency
• secrecy
• Nauru
• Manus Island

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr. Amy Nethery is a Lecturer in Politics and Policy Studies at Deakin University, Melbourne.

Dr. Rosa Holman is a researcher with the Alfred Deakin Research Institute of Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University.

Notes

1. Behrooz Boochani, ‘In Manus Prison, the Pain is There to Send You Home’, The Saturday Paper, 16–22 April 2016, 9.

2. Peter Young cited in Ben Doherty, ‘Australia’s Offshore Detention Damages Asylum Seekers Because it is Supposed to’, Guardian, 19 January 2016, http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jan/19/australias-offshore-detention-damages-asylum-seekers-because-its-supposed-to.

3. Boochani, ‘In Manus Prison, the Pain is There to Send you Home’.

4. M. Grewcock, ‘Back to the Future: Australian Border Policing under Labor, 2007–2013’, State Crime (Spring 2014): 102–3.

5. P. Ruddock, ‘Background Paper on Unauthorised Arrivals Strategy: Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Phillip Ruddock’ (Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2001).

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7. Fiona McKay, ‘A Return to the Pacific Solution’, Forced Migration Review 44 (September 2013): 26.

8. Grewcock, ‘Back to the Future’, 103.

9. Dirk Van Zyl Smit, ‘Regulation of Prison Conditions’, Crime and Justice 39, no. 1 (2010): 503–63.

10. Key research in this field includes David J. Rothman, The Discovery of the Asylum: Social Order and Disorder in the New Republic (New Brunswick: Aldine, 1971 [1990]); Michael Ignatieff, A Just Measure of Pain: The Penitentiary in the Industrial Revolution, 1750–1850 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1978); David Garland, Punishment and Modern Society: A Study in Social Theory (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990); David Garland, The Culture of Control: Crime and Social Order in Contemporary Society (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001); Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, trans. A. Sheridan (New York: Vintage, 1977); and van Zyl Smit, ‘Regulation of Prison Conditions’.

11. van Zyl Smit, ‘Regulation of Prison Conditions’, 507.

12. Bronwyn Naylor, ‘Protecting the Human Rights of Prisoners in Australia’, in Contemporary Perspectives on Human Rights Law in Australia, ed. Paula Gerber and Melissa Castan (Sydney: Thompson Reuters, 2013), 396.

13. For an extensive bibliography see Michele Dietch, ‘Annotated Bibliography on Independent Prison Oversight’, Pace Law Review 30, no. 5 (2010): 1687–1753.

14. Susan T. Fiske, Lasana T. Harris, and Amy J.C. Cuddy, ‘Why Ordinary People Torture Enemy Prisoners’, Science 306 (2004): 1483.

15. Andrea Jacobs, ‘Prison Power Corrupts Absolutely: Exploring the Phenomenon of Prison Guard Brutality and the Need to Develop a System of Accountability’, California West Law Review 41 (2004): 284.

16. Ibid., 1482.

17. F.D. Richard, Charles F. Bond Jr, and Juli J. Stokes-Zoota, ‘One Hundred Years of Social Psychology Quantitatively Described’, Review of General Psychology 7, no. 4 (2003): 331–63.

18. Fiske et al., ‘Why Ordinary People Torture Enemy Prisoners’, 1482.

19. Ivan Zinger, ‘Human Rights Compliance and the Role of External Prison Oversight’, Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice 48, no. 2 (2006): 128.

20. Sabine Carl, ‘Prisoner Welfare, Human Rights and the North Rhine-Westphalian Prison Ombudsman’, Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law 35, no. 3 (2013): 366.

21. Michael B. Mushlin and Michele Deitch, ‘Opening up a Closed World: What Constitutes Effective Prison Oversight?’ Pace Law Review 30, no. 5 (2010): 1392.

22. Ibid., 1392; and Anne Owers, ‘Prison Inspection and the Protection of Prisoners’ Rights’, Pace Law Review 30, no. 5 (2010): 1543–6.

23. See, for example, Tomer Einat et al., ‘Letting the Fox Guard the Chicken Coop: Oversight, Transparency, and Violation of Human Rights in the Israeli Penal System’, Criminal Justice Studies 24, no. 3 (2011): 263.

24. Marie Gottschalk, Caught: The Prison State and the Lockdown of American Politics (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015); Mushlin and Deitch, ‘Opening up a Closed World’, 1385.

25. van Zyl Smit, ‘Regulation of Prison Conditions’, 510–17.

26. Ibid.; Einat et al., ‘Letting the Fox Guard the Chicken Coop’, 258; Naylor, ‘Protecting the Human Rights of Prisoners in Australia’, 412.

27. Naylor, ‘Protecting the Human Rights of Prisoners in Australia’, 413.

28. Owers, ‘Prison Inspection and the Protection of Prisoners’ Rights’.

29. Fiske et al., ‘Why Ordinary People Torture Enemy Prisoners’, 1483.

30. Owers, ‘Prison Inspection and the Protection of Prisoners’ Rights’; van Zyl Smit, ‘Regulation of Prison Conditions’.

31. Mushlin and Deitch, ‘Opening up a Closed World’.

32. Einat et al., ‘Letting the Fox Guard the Chicken Coop’, 257.

33. Stephanie J. Silverman and Amy Nethery, ‘Understanding Immigration Detention and Its Human Impact’, Immigration Detention: The Migration of a Policy and its Human Impact (Abingdon: Routledge, 2015), 1–12.

34. Naylor, ‘Protecting the Human Rights of Prisoners in Australia’, 412.

35. Stephanie J. Silverman and Evelyne Massa, ‘Why Immigration Detention is Unique’, Population, Space and Place 18, no. 6 (2012): 677–86.

36. The Coalition’s Operation Sovereign Borders Policy, July 2013, 2, http://lpaweb-static.s3.amazonaws.com/Policies/OperationSovereignBorders_Policy.pdf.

37. Thea Cowrie, ‘Coalition Launces Operation Sovereign Borders’, SBS Online, 18 September 2013, http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/09/18/coalition-launches-operation-sovereign-borders.

38. Cat Barker, Australian Border Force, Parliamentary Library Budget Review 2014–15, http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/BudgetReview201415/Border.

39. Martin Mackenzie-Murray, ‘Inside Border Force’s Power’, Saturday Paper, 5 September 2015, https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/immigration/2015/09/05/inside-border-forces-power/14413752002322; Melissa Clarke, ‘Career Police Officer to be Appointed First Commissioner of the Australian Border Force’, ABC Online, 8 May 2015, http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2015/s4231975.htm.

40. Paul Farrell, ‘Immigration FOI Requests Refused as Scott Morrison Takes Tougher Line’, The Guardian, 14 January 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/14/immigration-foi-request-refused-despite-labor-approval.

41. ABC News, ‘Prime Minister Tony Abbott Likens Campaign against People Smugglers to “War”’, ABC News Online, 4 February 2014, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-10/abbott-likens-campaign-against-people-smugglers-to-war/5193546.

42. Natalie O’Brien, ‘No Comment: Government Silent over Fate of Asylum Seekers’, Sydney Morning Herald, 9 November 2013, http://www.smh.com.au/national/no-comment-government-silent-over-fate-of-asylum-seekers-20131109-2x8a1.html.

43. Emma Griffiths, ‘Immigration Minister Scott Morrison Touts “Rapid Increase” in Asylum Seeker Transfers’, ABC News Online, 23 September 2013, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-23/immigration-minister-morrison-details-asylum-seeker-movements/4974758.

44. Rod Tiffen, ‘The Abbott’s Government’s War on Transparency’, Inside Story, 5 June 2014, http://insidestory.org.au/the-abbott-governments-war-on-transparency.

45. James Bennet, ‘Australian Border Force Commissioner Says Operational Matters Won’t be Discussed Publicly’, ABC News Online, 2 July 2015, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-01/border-force-commissioner-operational-matters-roman-quaedvlieg/6586274.

46. The Children Overboard affair involved the then Prime Minister, John Howard, accusing seafaring asylum seekers of throwing their children overboard in an attempt to secure their rescue by the Australian navy.

47. Bernard Keane, ‘Training, Lifeboats and Asylum Seekers in the “Battle Space”’, Crikey, 20 August 2015, http://www.crikey.com.au/2014/03/06/training-lifeboats-and-asylum-seekers-in-the-battle-space/.

48. ABC News, ‘Operation Sovereign Borders: The First Six Months’, ABC Online, http://www.abc.net.au/news/interactives/operation-sovereign-borders-the-first-6-months/.

49. Editorial, ‘Give Asylum Seekers Proper Assessments’, 27 May 2015, The Age, http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-editorial/give-asylum-seekers-proper-assessments-20150526-gh9umq.html.

50. Ibid.

51. Ibid.

52. David Marr and Oliver Laughland, ‘Australia’s Detention Regime Sets Out to Make Asylum Seekers Suffer, Says Chief Immigration Psychologist’, Guardian, 5 August 2015; Senate Committee, ‘Select Committee on the Recent Allegations Relating to Conditions and Circumstances at the Regional Processing Centre in Nauru’, Commonwealth of Australia (August 2015): 124–5.

53. Mark Seccombe, ‘Hesta’s Transfield Dumping Highlights Ethical Focus’, Saturday Paper, 12 September 2015, https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/immigration/2015/09/12/hestas-transfield-dumping-highlights-ethical-focus/14419800002369.

54. Melissa Davies, ‘Transfield Given $1.5bn Over Three Years to Manage Nauru and Manus Centres’, Guardian, 27 October 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/oct/27/transfield-given-15bn-over-three-years-to-manage-nauru-and-manus-centres.

55. Ben Doherty, ‘Detention Centre Operator Transfield Services to be Renamed “Broadspectrum”’, Guardian, 25 September 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/sep/25/detention-centre-operator-transfield-services-to-be-renamed-broadspectrum?CMP=share_btn_link.

56. Latika Bourke, ‘Manus Island Riot, Independent Report by Robert Cornall Details Deadly Detention Centre Violence’, ABC Online, 26 May 2014, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-26/scott-morrison-releases-review-into-manus-island-riot/5478170.

57. Senate, Taking Responsibility: Conditions and Circumstances at Australia’s Regional Processing Centre in Nauru (Select Committee on the Recent Allegations Relating to the Conditions and Circumstances at the Regional Processing Centre in Nauru, August 2015), http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Regional_processing_Nauru/Regional_processing_Nauru/Final_Report.

58. Ibid., 123.

59. Ibid., 124.

60. Ibid., 24.

61. Ibid., 121.

62. Ibid., 124–5.

63. Nicole Hasham, ‘Sting Allegedly Captures Security Guard in Nauru Detention Camp Confessing to Fake Assault Story’, Sydney Morning Herald, 20 August 2015, http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/nauru-detention-camp-security-guard-allegedly-confesses-to-fake-assault-story-20150818-gj1lxy.html.

64. Senate, Taking Responsibility, 125.

65. Paul Farrell, ‘Australian Detention Centre Secrecy Laws Condemned by World Medical Body’, Guardian, 3 July 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jul/03/australian-detention-centre-secrecy-laws-condemned-by-world-medical-body.

66. Julian Burnside, ‘Why Can’t We Know What’s Happening on Nauru and Manus Island?’, Guardian, 8 October 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/08/why-cant-we-know-whats-happening-on-nauru-and-manus-island.

67. Ibid.

68. Adam Morton, ‘Buying Silence? Immigration Asked Charities for Multimillion-Dollar Bond’, Sydney Morning Herald, 30 October 2015, http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/buying-silence-immigration-asked-charities-for-multimilliondollar-bond-20151030-gkmspv.html#ixzz3wLQBeTtS.

69. Ibid.

70. Editorial, ‘Australasia Feels the Heat’, Economist, 12 September 2015, 3, http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21664233-low-lying-islands-take-moral-high-ground-australasia-feels-heat.

71. Savitri Taylor, ‘Australian Neo-colonialism in the Pacific: Immigration Detention in Papua New Guinea’, Immigration Detention: The Migration of a Policy and its Human Impact (Abingdon: Routledge, 2015), 135.

72. Martin Mackenzie-Murray, ‘Nauru’s Systematic Dysfunction’, Saturday Paper, 29 August 2015, https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/immigration/2015/08/29/naurus-systemic-dysfunction/14407704002306.

73. Senate Committee, ‘Select Committee on the Recent Allegations Relating to Conditions and Circumstances at the Regional Processing Centre in Nauru’, 9.

74. Ibid., 121.

75. Ibid., 121.

76. Mackenzie-Murray, ‘Nauru’s Systematic Dysfunction’.

77. Romana Koval, ‘Justice Undone’, Saturday Paper, 21 March 2015, https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/world/asiapacific/2015/03/21/geoffrey-eames-former-nauru-chief-justice/14268564001645.

78. Ibid.

79. Senate Committee, ‘Select Committee on the Recent Allegations Relating to Conditions and Circumstances at the Regional Processing Centre in Nauru’, 22.

80. Editorial, ‘Australasia Feels the Heat’, Economist, 3.

81. Nicole Hasham, ‘Federal Government Asks Australian Federal Police to Find Nauru Whistleblowers’, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 October 2015, http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/federal-government-asks-australian-federal-police-to-find-nauru-whistleblowers-20150930-gjyj0i.html.

82. Ibid.

83. Heath Aston, ‘Minister Defends PNG’s Blocking of Manus Inquiry’, Sydney Morning Herald, 24 March 2014, http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/minister-defends-pngs-blocking-of-manus-inquiry-20140323-35bts.html.

84. ABC, ‘Australian Lawyer Jay Williams, Who Represents Manus Island Asylum Seekers, Deported from PNG Again’, ABC News, 1 April 2014, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-01/lawyer-jay-williams-deported-from-png/5359916.

85. Nicole Hasham, ‘Manus Island Detention Centre to Close, PNG Prime Minister Says Following Court Bombshell’, The Age, 27 April 2016, http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/manus-island-detention-centre-to-close-png-prime-minister-says-following-court-bombshell-20160427-gogbyo.html.

86. Rodney Tiffen, ‘The Abbott’s Government’s War on Transparency’, Inside Story, 5 June 2015, http://insidestory.org.au/the-abbott-governments-war-on-transparency.

87. Ben Wadham, ‘Operation Sovereign Borders: Dignified Silence or Diminishing Democracy?’, The Conversation, 8 January 2014, https://theconversation.com/operation-sovereign-borders-dignified-silence-or-diminishing-democracy-21294; David Marr, ‘Scott Morrison: Always Short on Answers, Now Shy With Questions’, Guardian, 24 December 2013, http://www.theguardian.com/world/blog/2013/dec/24/scott-morrison-always-short-on-answers-now-shy-with-questions.

88. S.A. Caldwell, ‘Operation Sovereign Secrecy and Australia’s Reputation Abroad’, Circus Bazaar, 21 January 2014, http://www.circusbazaar.com/operation-sovereign-borders-secrecy/.

89. Annabel Crabb, ‘Scott Morrison Interview Takes on Pythonesque Proportions’, Sydney Morning Herald, 6 July 2014, http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/scott-morrison-interview-takes-on-pythonesque-proportions-20140704-zsw9n.html#ixzz3kAgJhLci.

90. Ibid.

91. Hasham, ‘Federal Government Asks Australian Federal Police to Find Nauru Whistleblowers’.

92. Paul Farrell, ‘The AFP and Me: How One of My Asylum Stories Sparked a 200-page Police Investigation, Guardian, 12 February 2016, http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/feb/12/the-afp-and-me-how-one-of-my-asylum-stories-sparked-a-200-page-police-investigation.

93. Jonathon Swan, ‘Nauru to Charge Australians $8000 to Report on Asylum Seekers’, Sydney Morning Herald, 9 January 2014, http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/nauru-to-charge-australians-8000-to-report-on-asylum-seekers-20140109-30k97.html.

94. Sky News, ‘Nauru Tightens Australian visa Restrictions’, 20 February 2016, http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2016/02/20/nauru-tightens-australian-visa-restrictions.html.

95. Kellie Tranter, ‘There are Still Questions about Pregnant Refugee Abyan’s Treatment. It’s Time for an Inquiry’, Guardian, 2 January 2016, http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2016/jan/02/pregnant-refugee-abyan-abortion-inquiry-nauru-immigration.

96. Jonathan Holmes, ‘Chris Kenny’s Partisan Reporting on Nauru Does Nothing to Help Us Find Truth’, Age, 4 November 2015, http://www.theage.com.au/comment/chris-kennys-partisan-reporting-on-nauru-does-nothing-to-help-readers-find-truth-20151102-gkp7s5.html.

97. Amanda Meade, ‘Chris Kenny the First Foreign News Reporter in 18 months to be Granted Nauru Visa’, Guardian, 20 October 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/20/chris-kenny-first-foreign-news-reporter-in-18-months-granted-nauru-visa.

98. Amnesty International, ‘Nauru’s Refusal of Access to Detention Centre Another Attempt to Hide Conditions’, 29 April 2014, http://www.amnesty.org.au/news/comments/34423/.

99. Emma Griffiths and Naomi Woodley, ‘Tony Abbott Labels Human Rights Commission Report into Children in Detention “Blatantly Partisan Politicised Exercise”’, ABC News, 14 February 2015, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-12/human-rights-immigration-report-blatantly-partisan-abbott/6087148.

100. Patrick Begley, ‘Gillian Triggs Refuses to Resign in Face of “Personal Attacks” from Abbott Government’, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 June 2015, http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/gillian-triggs-refuses-to-resign-in-face-of-personal-attacks-from-abbott-government-20150611-ghm56b.html.

101. Michael Gordon and Sarah Whyte, ‘Ian Macdonald Continues his Attack on Gillian Triggs’, Sydney Morning Herald, 3 March 2015, http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/ian-macdonald-continues-his-attack-on-gillian-triggs-20150303-13tyth.html.

102. Matthew Doran, ‘United Nations Special Rapporteur for Asylum Seeker Human Rights Delays Australian Visit, Cites Border Force Act’, ABC News, 27 September 2015, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-26/un-human-rights-investigator-australia-visit-border-force-act/6807146.

103. Jane Lee, ‘UN Cancels Australia Visit over Border Force Laws’, Sydney Morning Herald, 26 September 2015, http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/un-postpones-australian-visit-over-failure-to-guarantee-protection-of-detention-centre-whistleblowers-from-recrimination-20150926-gjvgm2.html.

104. Philip Moss, Review into the Recent Allegations Relating to Conditions and Circumstances at the Regional Processing Centre in Nauru, 2015, https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/reviews-and-inquiries/review-conditions-circumstances-nauru.pdf.

105. Robert Cornall, Review into the Events of 16–18 February 2014 at the Manus Regional Processing Centre, 23 May 2014, http://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/reviews-and-inquiries/review-robert-cornall.pdf.

106. Senate, Incident at the Manus Island Detention Centre from 16 February to 18 February 2014, Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee, December 2014, http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/Manus_Island/Report.

107. Senate, Taking Responsibility.

108. Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), The Forgotten Children: National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention 2014, November 2014, https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/forgotten_children_2014.pdf.

109. Ibid., 181.

110. Ibid., 183.

111. Ibid., 181–4.

112. Senate, Taking Responsibility, 178.

113. AHRC, The Forgotten Children, 183.

114. Ibid., 62.

115. Ibid., 36.

116. Senate, Taking Responsibility, 154.

117. Ibid, 121–4.

118. Ibid., 62.

119. Ibid., 140–1.

120. Cornall, Incident at the Manus Island Detention, 37.

121. ‘Bad Blood’, Four Corners, Australian Broadcasting Commission, Sydney, Australia, 24 April 2016.

122. Stephanie Anderson, ‘Immigration Detention Times on Nauru and Manus Island Blow out to 450-day Average under Liberals, ABC News, 13 January 2016, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-13/immigration-detention-times-blow-out-to-almost-450-days/7085264.

123. Senate, Taking Responsibility, 120.

124. Ibid., 123–5.

125. See, for example, Linda Briskman, Deborah Zion, and Bebe Loff, ‘Challenge and Collusion: Health Professionals and Immigration Detention and Australia’, International Journal of Human Rights 14, no. 7 (2010): 1092–106; and David Isaacs, ‘Doctors Should Boycott Working in Australia’s Immigration Detention Centres and Must Continue to Speak Out on Mistreatment of Detainees – Despite the Law’, British Medical Journal (2015): 350.