SYDNEY, Nov 23: The camp set up by Australia to house asylum-seekers on the Pacific island of Nauru was “appalling” and likely in breach of its obligations to refugees, rights group Amnesty said on Friday.

Australia began sending asylum-seekers to Nauru in September as part of a new policy of processing boatpeople offshore to deter others from making the risky sea journey Down Under which has claimed hundreds of lives.

The government says all refugees are treated humanely but Amnesty Australia’s Graham Thom, who visited Nauru this week, said the 386 men held on the island were in “extremely harsh” conditions.

About half of the refugees are from Sri Lanka and others from Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.

Mr Thom said they slept in crowded tents which leaked when it rained. “I think it is fair to say that Australia is again in serious breach of its international obligations,” he said as Amnesty released a report on Friday on the situation in the Nauru camp.

“These are appalling conditions and they are completely unacceptable for vulnerable people, many of whom have suffered torture and trauma.” Amnesty, which wants Canberra to close the Nauru centre, described the situation on the rocky island as a toxic mix of uncertainty, unlawful detention and inhumane conditions.

It said the island camp failed to give the men appropriate accommodation, freedom of movement, or any sort of process to address their claims for asylum, and could result in serious mental trauma or even death.

“What we’ve seen with this sort of detention in the past is that it does break people and people ultimately do kill themselves or seriously hurt themselves,” Mr Thom said.

Several asylum-seekers are on hunger strike with Mr Thom saying one man had shed 19 kilograms after refusing food for more than 40 days. “And he says, ‘I just can’t be here. I prefer death than being here because this is so horrible’,” Mr Thom said.

Others claim to have been tortured and detained in their home countries, and being held on Nauru was reopening the trauma.

Mr Thom said that during the day there was nowhere for the men to go, with the tents too hot to be occupied until late when it often rained, resulting in water dripping onto bedding.—AFP