Nauru immigration detention centre – exclusive pictures

Guardian Australia has obtained exclusive images from inside detention centres on Nauru. Many of these photos are understood to have come from Regional Processing Centre 3 (RPC3) - the family and single adult women camp
Photograph: General

The latest statistics from the department for immigration and border protection state there are 106 asylum seeker children detained on Nauru. The UNHCR visited RPC3 in October and expressed grave concerns that facilities there were in violation of international human rights laws Photograph: General

Asylum seeker children play in the dirt. The UNHCR report found education facilities at RPC3 were inadequate. The education room was "too hot for the children to remain in it for any length of time," their November 2013 report concluded Photograph: General

Immigration and border protection minister Scott Morrison has also conceded that family facilities on Nauru were left "underprepared" and "under funded" by the last government, but has continued to transfer children and families to the camp Photograph: General

The UNHCR has recommended that the Australian government halt all transfers of families and children to Nauru. Immigration and border protection minister Scott Morrison said “we disagree with the UNHCR’s assessment on that". Photograph: General

Australian Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young has expressed serious concern at the conditions the photographs reveal: “The UN reported on the terrible situation on Nauru last week and now we can see it for ourselves” she said. “Refugees, especially mothers and their children, should never have been sent to these horrific conditions, let alone dumped there indefinitely." Photograph: General

Inside one of the three marquees that constitute RPC3 shows rooms are partitioned with makeshift curtains and temporary walls Photograph: General

Asylum seekers are forced to hang their clothes on fences as building work on the site appears incomplete Photograph: Guardian exclusive

A notice which appears to section off an area of the camp for those suffering from gastroenteritis. It is unclear which camp on Nauru this photograph has come from Photograph: General

Another notice inside shows what is believed to be a medical isolation area. It is unclear which camp this photograph came from Photograph: Guardian exclusive

Families stand in small shaded areas. RPC3 is not equipped with air conditioning although some areas have fans Photograph: Guardian exclusive

Three asylum seeker children sit in the shade. Some reports have suggested temperatures can reach 50 degrees inside the marquees Photograph: Guardian exclusive

An asylum seeker child seeks shade under a piece of cardboard Photograph: Guardian exclusive

An asylum seeker child stands by a fence at RPC3 on Nauru Photograph: Guardian exclusive

The UNHCR report said that asylum seekers had little access to privacy at the centre. Here is more detail of the makeshift curtains separating the partitions Photograph: Guardian exclusive

A fenced pathway. Hanson-Young continued: “After seeing these photos, the thought that Latifar and Ferouz [an asylum seeker mother and her child who was born in detention in Brisbane after Latifar was transferred from Nauru] could be sent back there is heartbreaking. The desolation, the isolation and the hopelessness clearly show a humanitarian disaster in the making and the Australian tax payer is picking up the extraordinary bill." Photograph: Guardian exclusive

“The cruelty of this government is creating the next damaged generation and, as a nation, Australia will feel significant regret about this in the future. The media must be given access to these detention camps so that the Australian people can see the truth," Hanson-Young said Photograph: Guardian exclusive