There is growing outrage at the plans to send 267 asylum seekers back to Nauru and Manus Island. On Monday 29 February RAC hosted a forum to hear first hand accounts of the situation on Nauru, particularly for refugee women. In the last year 20 refugee women on Nauru been raped or sexually assaulted, according to Lateline. And these are just the reported cases. Refugees have also been bashed and robbed on the island.
Thea, a former Save the Children worker on Nauru, gave an eyewitness account while refugee advocate Pamela Curr, who is in direct contact with asylum seekers and refugees on Nauru, shared her stories about housing and conditions for women that have led to the epidemic of rapes and sexual assault. Kyja Noack-Lundberg, a member of Refugee Action Coalition and gender studies academic chaired and introduced the discussion.
Videos of the speeches are available here at the Green Left Weekly website filmed by Zebedee Parkes.
