Amnesty Int. slams Nauru centre

Got an email today from Amnesty Int, in it they report on conditions in the Nauru detention centre where boat people asylum seekers are being dumped.

I've just arrived back from the detention camps on Nauru. Even after years of visiting these sorts of places with Amnesty International, I was shocked by what I saw [1]. 

14 people to a tent. Tents that reach 40 degrees in the midday sun - yet it is so humid that the tents are wet, causing detainees to develop skin conditions. I met two detainees who've been hospitalised following hunger strikes. I was shown a pole where a man recently tried to hang himself, and many people showed me scars on their body caused by self-harm. 

These people are not criminals [2]. They're people who have been locked up with no hope, and no idea how long they'll remain there. 

Authorities haven't begun processing a single detainee's case for asylum. No one has legal representation - Australia doesn't provide lawyers, and Nauru has no private lawyers on the entire island. Conditions are cruel, inhumane and degrading. There aren't even enough shower blocks and toilet facilities. 

It's heart-breaking to see people fleeing war, violence and persecution being treated this way.

You can take action here.

This is appalling. I can't believe how low the fuckin politics has got with this. It's become about appeasing Australian racists rather than appealing to our better nature. By both major parties. It's the reason why I could never vote for Gillard; it repulsed me under Howard and I'm still repulsed under Gillard. Same shit.

I just don't know how some of these politicians can sleep at night with treating people like this. The saddest thing is that these are the weakest and most vulnerable. What an outrage.