The Australian Psychological Society (APS) calls on the Federal Government to act urgently to remove all refugee families from offshore detention on Nauru, amid grave concerns for their mental health and wellbeing.
APS President Ros Knight says, “We are particularly concerned about reports that indicate significant mental distress being experienced by children and their families on Nauru, including self-harm behaviour in very young children.”
“It is critical that all children and their families being held indefinitely on Nauru be given urgent access to mental health care of an appropriate standard, which it is now clear can only be achieved by transferring them to Australia,” she says.
The APS says a decade of evidence shows alarming mental health consequences for refugees, and especially children, who are placed in detention for extended periods, and these consequences must not be ignored.
The Australian Human Rights Commission’s report, The Forgotten Children, from its 2015 Inquiry into Children in Detention, catalogues the wide variety of psychological harms detention causes children, as well as their parents.
The APS holds serious concerns for all women, men and children who have been detained offshore for lengthy periods on Nauru, Manus Island and in Port Moresby.
Detention has an adverse effect on mental health by exacerbating the impact of previous trauma, and by fueling new trauma. The APS says a solution needs to be found for humane processing onshore and decent re-resettlement.
The APS has long opposed offshore, mandatory detention, particularly for children. The process restricts access to support services and inevitably compromises the ethical delivery of psychological services.
It urges the Government to meet its obligations under the UN Refugee Convention and to uphold the fundamental right of refugees to seek protection, by adopting a fair refugee status determination process.
APS Position statement: Psychological wellbeing of refugees and asylum seekers in Australia
For more information, or to arrange an interview call the APS Media team on 03 8662 3358 / 0435 896 444, or email. Find the APS Media team on Twitter: @AustPsych
The APS is the largest professional organisation for psychologists in Australia, representing more than 27,000 members. The APS is committed to advancing psychology as a discipline and profession. It spreads the message that psychologists make a difference to people’s lives, through improving psychological knowledge and community wellbeing.