Australian immigration detention facilities

Australian immigration detention facilities
Barriers surrounding the Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre in Burlong, Western Australia.
The Wickham Point Immigration Detention Centre in Darwin

Australian immigration detention facilities comprise a number of different facilities throughout Australia, including the Australian territory of Christmas Island.[1] Such facilities also exist in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, namely the Nauru Regional Processing Centre and the Manus Regional Processing Centre.

They are currently used to detain people who are under Australia's policy of mandatory immigration detention. Asylum seekers detected in boats in Australian waters have been detained in facilities on the offshore islands of Nauru and Manus Island, previously under the now defunct Pacific Solution and (since 2013 and as of March 2019) under Operation Sovereign Borders.

The facilities' existence is controversial and has been condemned on human rights grounds and have even been likened to concentration camps by some critics and human rights groups.[2][3] The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has cited these centres as a "damning indictment of a policy meant to avoid Australia's international obligations".[4]

  1. ^ "Australia". Immi.gov.au. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  2. ^ Charles, Stephen (4 May 2016). "Our detention centres are concentration camps and must be closed". Australia – via The Sydney Morning Herald.
  3. ^ "No Pacific paradise: Trump's call to PM shines light on detention camps". NBC News.
  4. ^ Davidson, Helen (21 November 2017). "Manus humanitarian crisis a 'damning indictment' of Australia's refugee policy: UNHCR". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 April 2022.