The federal government should immediately stop transfers of asylum seekers and babies born in detention to Nauru and Manus Island until their safety can be guaranteed, a coalition of refugee and legal groups has said.
In a joint statement, more than 100 refugee, advocacy and legal groups said the return of asylum seekers to offshore detention centres risked exposing them to “cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment”.
More than 200 asylum seekers have been brought to the mainland after being held in Nauru or on Manus. Some have been moved to the mainland for treatment of serious medical conditions.
The statement, which has been signed by groups including Unicef Australia, the Uniting Church, the Refugee Advice and Casework Service, the NSW Teachers Federation, Jesuit Refugee Service, Chilout, Australian Lawyers for Human Rights and the Australian Council of Social Service, said the government had been unable to secure either detention centre.
“Many of those detained on Manus Island and Nauru are now suffering significant mental distress including post-traumatic stress disorder,” the statement said.
“Returning those people, including children, to the place of their suffering and even to the place where they may have experienced sexual abuse, amounts to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.”
A recent review into the Nauru detention centre substantiated some allegations of sexual assault at the centre and made a series of recommendations to improve the overall safety and security for asylum seekers. The statement from the refugee groups said recommendations from an earlier review into the Manus detention centre following the unrest that led to the death of Reza Barati had not been implemented.
Guardian Australia has also obtained a photograph of a group of babies who were born in detention after 4 December 2014 and now face removal back to Nauru and Manus island under a deal with the crossbench senator Ricky Muir in December that gave only babies born up until that date an opportunity to stay in Australia.
“We call for an immediate moratorium on transfers to offshore detention centres, at least until such a time as all recommendations of the Moss review and Cornall report have been fully implemented, and the Australian-funded detention centres comply with minimum international standards for the treatment of the people detained there,” it said.
It said self-harm attempts had risen among people who were anticipating being returned to the detention centres.
“Part of their fear is due to the government’s removal of procedural fairness, which means they are held incommunicado, without phone access to lawyers, family or friends, for hours and have their personal belongings packed by detention centre officers while they wait to be removed offshore,” the statement said.
“Because the immigration department does not reveal who will be transferred each week, hundreds of people have heightened anxiety for days before each scheduled transfer.”
Lawyers for a five-year-old girl suffering from post traumatic stress disorder in Darwin’s Wickham Point detention centre are preparing to seek an injunction to halt her removal from Australia.
Paul Power, the chief executive of the Refugee Council of Australia, which coordinated the statement, said the girl and other children should not be sent back to environments that could further harm them.
“Any parent would be appalled by the impact on this vulnerable young girl, and we call upon the Australian government to immediately cease the transfer of vulnerable asylum seekers until all the recommendations of the Moss review and the Cornall report are implemented,” he said.
“We call on the Australian government to show some compassion for a young vulnerable girl and not return her, nor any other vulnerable people, to Nauru until the safety and protection of all asylum seekers can be guaranteed.”
The statement said: “Asylum seekers and refugees have legitimate fears for their safety, and the Australian government has not implemented meaningful changes to detention conditions at Nauru or Manus Island to ensure they comply with both its own commissioned reports as well as Australia’s obligations under international law.”
