Iranian refugee on Nauru attempts suicide after US resettlement application rejected, advocate says
Posted
The Refugee Action Coalition says an Iranian woman on Nauru has attempted to take her own life after having her application for resettlement in the United States rejected.
Key points:
- Around 150 refugees have been given appointments with US officials
- More than 70 people have been rejected in the past two days
- Peter Dutton's office said it had no comment on the incident
The reported suicide attempt last night (local time) came after the first day of appointments with US officials who are telling refugees if they have been accepted or rejected for resettlement in the United States.
About 150 refugees were given appointments, but almost half of them had already been rejected.
One of the refugees on the island — who did not want to be identified — said those who had been turned down for resettlement were deeply distressed.
"They informed [the refugee who attempted suicide] that her case has been rejected from USA," he said.
"The case manager called the police … and some of her mates who've been living with her in the camp tried to save her."
He said refugees being rejected had been very frustrated because they had been waiting for positive news for a long time.
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"The situation around Nauru is just a frustrating situation," he said.
Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition said it was already becoming apparent the Americans were not prepared to offer a new home to anyone from Iran.
"All the Iranians who have been for appointments yesterday [Monday] had been rejected, and so there was considerable consternation about her situation," Mr Rintoul said.
"While they've had emails from the US resettlement services saying that there is no official ban, it's quite clear that ban is unofficially in place.
"It's impossible that all the Iranians who have had appointments have all been rejected to the US unless there was a ban in place."
Mr Rintoul said so far more than 70 people had been rejected in the past two days, including all Iranians and Somalis who had appointments.
The ethnicities of refugees being accepted include Afghans, Pakistanis and Rohingyas.
"There is no future and Peter Dutton has made that very clear by finally admitting that there are no other resettling countries. New Zealand has said that they will take 150 a year but so far the Coalition government have rejected that," Mr Rintoul said.
"There will be hundreds of people who are left behind by the US deal and there really is only one place for them to get resettlement, and that's in Australia."
The office of Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said it had no comment on the incident.
Topics: suicide, refugees, immigration, world-politics, mental-health, nauru, pacific
