if you travel by boat without a visa you
will not make Australia home the rules
apply to everyone
families children there are no
exceptions
refugees trying to come to Australia are
detained in places that redefine
isolation access to the camps on Manus
Island and Naru is virtually bad so it's
very difficult to get a sense of what
life is really like in offshore
detention but there were a few people
willing to speak to us for this story
who have experience in the detention
centers themselves the Naru one is in
the middle of a mining camp so it's kind
of all white stone and gravel on the
ground big high fences and big white
Nike tents there is some hard buildings
shipping containers that have been
converted into portable rooms Manus
Island is very similar it's right on the
water though so one side of the camp is
closed off with a big fence that goes
onto the the sea and the other side of
the camp is the kind of the jungle and
it's pretty remote inside these camps
access to technology is incredibly
limited photography and mobile phones
are banned and access to social media is
restricted via camp computers
I don't like phones they don't like
photography and because all mobile
phones these days have cameras they
don't want that inside the centre and
that's how they stop that communication
they don't want images of children
locked up because that would create
sympathy or empathy for people in
detention and people would actually
question why are we doing this the
restrictions on Facebook on Nauru I
think give a pretty clear example of how
governments are trying to control the
way people are getting in touch with
those on the outside whether it be
family or the media or their lawyers so
if you were able to get on to a Facebook
page regarding Australia it very limited
access because they didn't want the
asylum seekers to see anything in
regards to Australian cities or beaches
but the communication back to the home
countries and their families was allowed
and that was encouraged because the
asylum tech was in telling the
countrymen of their families held bad it
was Manus Island is part of Papua New
Guinea and in April 2016 the Supreme
Court there ruled that indefinite
detention on Manus Island was illegal
since then we've seen the centres open
up to somewhat with information coming
out of the camps thanks to mobile phones
that have gone in I got in touch with
one refugee their burrows bouhanni
Peru's is a journalist who fled Iran
soon after he arrived
on Manus Island he sold his clothes for
some cigarettes which he traded for a
beat-up old phone God's confiscated that
phone and threatened him but then he
sold more possessions and bought another
mobile he's been messaging me and other
Australian journalists via whatsapp he's
been publishing photos on his Facebook
page and he's even written articles for
Australian media outlets while he's
still in detention he told me technology
is so important to us it gives us the
power to send out our voice Tech is also
a way to shine the light on the horrors
of detention without access to
technology he said the Australian
government could do anything to us even
kill us and no one would know 1,300
asylum seekers are currently in offshore
detention with some having been detained
for up to three years we've heard
countless allegations of human rights
abuses over the years and these stories
were confirmed in grim detail in August
2016 when the Guardian published more
than 2,000 reports made by staff in the
Naru processing centre the story of a
woman sharpening a pencil with a razor
blade before cutting her own wrists a
young person sewing their lips together
rape claims dismissed by centre staff
cockroaches found crawling in a child's
hair one woman told staff I just want to
die I was involved in three attempted
suicides two of which I was the first
responder so I was saved two persons
lives or I'll save them from certainly
committing suicide Manus Island this
facility itself would not be allowed to
operate here within Australia it breaks
every rule in regards to incarceration
images and messages were once smuggled
out of detention but greater access to
technology is enabling refugees in these
camps to be seen and heard and the world
needs to listen
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