Greetings From Torture Island: Australia’s Worst Destination

The disturbing conditions of Australia’s detention center for children have been documented in the past, but yesterday The Guardian published 2,116 leaked incident reports from the infamous island of Nauru that paint an even more heinous picture. The leaked documents reveal cases of torture, sexual assault and self-harm, involving both juvenile detainees and asylum seekers. The stories emerging are so obscene we’d rather not make you read them this early in the morning, but you can read with caution here. 

Nauru is still accepting applications. 

Although juveniles were the victims listed in more than half of these reports, children make up only about 18% of those in detention on Nauru. Under current Australian policies, migrants who try to reach the country by boat without a valid visa are held offshore in Nauru, and even if they are given refugee status, they are prevented from resettling in Australia. That means new groups continue to arrive in Nauru and never leave. Currently, Nauru hosts 442 people in the Australian-run processing center. But then there’s an additional 500 other asylum seekers – including those who have been granted refugee status – who live outside the center but are still stuck on the eight-mile island.