CALL FOR A MORATORIUM ON OFFSHORE TRANSFERS The Commonwealth Government, in accepting all recommendations of the Moss Review, has acknowledged that major changes are needed at Nauru to ensure that women and children can be kept safe from physical and sexual abuse. The Moss Review also highlighted serious concerns with general conditions at the Nauru detention centre, where access to water is limited and privacy is almost non-existent. Conditions at Manus Island are no better: after two years of operation, only around 10% of asylum seekers have had their applications processed and a handful of people have been ‘resettled’ in the Lorengau transitory facility. The thousand men remaining at the Manus detention centre continue to live in fear for their lives. Recommendations from the Cornall Report into the Manus detention centre have only been implemented to a minimal standard. Over 200 asylum seekers who have been in offshore processing facilities are currently in Australia for medical treatment, as appropriate care is not available at Manus or Nauru. Virtually every one of those people is suffering from significant mental illness including posttraumatic stress. Returning those people, including children, to the place of their traumatisation, and sometimes sexual abuse, amounts to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Fear of return to Manus and Nauru is so high that attempted self-harm and suicide is spiralling out of control for this group. Part of their fear is due to the Government’s removal of procedural fairness, which means they are held incommunicado, without phone access to lawyers, family or friends, for hours and have their personal belongings packed by Serco officers while they wait to be removed offshore. Because DIBP does not tell people who will be transferred each week, hundreds of people have heightened anxiety for days before each scheduled removal. Asylum seekers have legitimate fears for their safety, and the Commonwealth Government has not implemented meaningful changes to detention conditions at Nauru or Manus Island to ensure they comply with Australia’s obligations under human rights law. We call for an immediate moratorium on transfers to offshore detention centres, at least until such a time as all recommendations of the Moss Review and Cornall Report have been fully implemented, and the centres comply with international minimum standards for the treatment of detainees.