Australia’s offshore detention regime is a “cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment” and unlawful under international law, the international criminal court’s prosecutor has said.
But the office of the prosecutor has stopped short of deciding to prosecute the Australian government, saying that while the imprisonment of refugees and asylum seekers formed the basis of a crime against humanity, the violations did not rise to the level to warrant further investigation.
In a letter to the independent MP for Clark, Andrew Wilkie, the office of the ICC prosecutor said conditions in the Australian-run camps on Nauru and PNG’s Manus Island were dangerous and harsh, and an “environment rife with sporadic acts of physical and sexual violence committed by staff at the facilities”.