The Refugee Action Coalition has condemned the Nauru government’s public release of a Nauruan police brief of a rape case highlighted on the ABC’s 7.30 program last month.
“The Nauru government’s press release is a shocking attempt to intimidate women refugees on Nauru. To publicly release this woman’s name has not only revealed the government’s contempt of her basic right to privacy, but it has also put her at risk of retribution,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.
“It is the worst kind of a blame-the-victim mentality passing as an official response and a scandalous attempt to cover-up the scale of sexual assault and rape on Nauru and the general inaction of the Nauruan authorities in such cases,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.
“The fact is that there are three well-documented allegations of brutal rapes on Nauru since May this year. In none of those cases has there been any proper police investigation. In one of the cases, in May, the police took four days to even admit there had been a sexual assault.
“Numerous other allegations of sexual assault have not been investigated by the Nauru police. But we are expected to believe this particular allegation has been properly investigated. It is too convenient. Coming just a day after another alleged rape victim was flown off Nauru, the report has all the hallmarks of an orchestrated media campaign.
“The release of police report simply confirms a complete lack of sensitivity to sexual assault at the highest levels of the Nauru government. It is no wonder that the police do not take the allegations seriously.
“The police report uses tainted assumptions such as lack of torn clothing or lack of abrasions as being lack of evidence of rape. Even at a basic level, tearing off clothes does not mean that clothes are torn.
“We know from the Moss inquiry and the Senate inquiry that the police are not responsive to allegations of sexual abuse. The Nauru government is desperate to cover-up the epidemic levels of sexual violence on Nauru and its inability and unwillingness to take measures to provide basic security for the refugees in Nauru.
“The police and the government owe this woman and the women of Nauru an apology.”
For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713
