Australia should allow immigration detention centre workers to report human rights abuses to UN representatives without fear of imprisonment, academics and refugee law experts have argued in an open letter to the prime minister.
More than 60 academics have penned an open letter to the new prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, urging his government to allow detention centre workers to speak freely – and without fear of prosecution.
The gagging of detention centre workers – long a controversial element of the Border Force Act – took on new prominence last Friday when François Crépeau, the UN’s special rapporteur for the human rights of migrants, took the extraordinary step of issuing a statement saying he had indefinitely postponed his official visit to Australia because he feared staff would face “reprisals”, including jail, for speaking to him.
Many of the academics who signed Monday’s letter were due to meet with Crépeau next week. No plans have yet been made to reschedule his visit.
Under the Australian Border Force Act 2015, in force since July, immigration detention centre employees could face a prison term of up to two years for speaking out about conditions or treatment of those held inside detention.
But the act also allows for the secretary of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection to authorise staff to disclose information to external organisations, such as the UN.
On Monday, 64 academics from the field of refugee and migration studies signed a letter urging the Australian government to allow the UN’s representative to work without hindrance, and for detention centre staff to speak without fear of reprisals.
The signatories to the letter include Prof Mary Crock, Prof Ben Saul and Prof Stephen Castles from the University of Sydney, Prof Jane McAdam from the Kaldor centre for international refugee law at the University of New South Wales and Prof Sarah Joseph from the Castan centre for human rights law at Monash University.
“Although the Australian government could allow a detention centre worker to speak to the special rapporteur without the risk of prosecution, it has chosen not to do so in this case,” the letter says. “This calls into question the Australian government’s claim that it is willing to cooperate with UN procedures in good faith.
“In this instance, the government has refused to abide by the UN guidelines for fact-finding missions by special rapporteurs, which require that the special rapporteur have complete freedom of inquiry, access to detention facilities, and official assurances that no one who discloses information to the special rapporteur will be subjected to judicial proceedings for that reason.”
The academics write they are also concerned Crépeau has been denied access to the Australian-run offshore detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, especially after a number of parliamentary findings, government inquiries, and “independent reports about serious human rights violations in those places”.
The detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island have been the sites of violent riots, child sexual abuse allegations, inadequate medical care, assaults and other human rights breaches, and have consistently been condemned by the UN, human rights groups and parliamentary inquiries.
The ABC reported on Monday night that another two female refugees have reported being raped to police on Nauru.
A spokesman for the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, said Crépeau’s decision to abandon his trip was “disappointing and unfortunate” but the government stood ready to arrange a future visit.
“The department of immigration worked closely with the office of the special rapporteur to develop a comprehensive program and facilitate engagement across government,” he said.
“The program included meetings with key government officials, service providers, other organisations and visits to the detention network.”
The spokesman said access to the detention centres offshore on Papua New Guinea and Nauru was the responsibility of those countries.
He said a number of organisations, including the Australian Human Rights Commission, the commonwealth ombudsman, the UN high commissioner for refugees, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the International Organisation of Migration had visited detention centres “without the need to respond in this way”.
Guardian Australia has put questions to the immigration department asking whether it would be prepared to allow detention centre workers to speak to Crépeau, free of the restrictions of the Border Force Act. It has not yet received a response.
