Doctors Warn of Mental Health Emergency in Australian Refugee Facility

A court has ordered the removal of a girl held in an Australian-run refugee camp in the South Pacific because she is suffering "resignation syndrome." The child is refusing all food and water as a succession of critically ill youngsters are brought from the island of Nauru.



Medical experts and refugee advocates say there is a mounting health crisis among children held at Australia's offshore detention centers on Nauru.



A court has ordered that a 12-year-old girl be airlifted off the island for treatment in Australia after she reportedly tried to set herself on fire. Another young refugee is critically ill after refusing food, drink and medical treatment. Campaigners say children are suffering from a trauma-related psychological disorder known as "resignation syndrome."



Sources say the situation on the tiny South Pacific island is "dangerously chaotic."



In Canberra, an Australian government spokesman says service providers are contracted to deliver age-appropriate health, education and cultural care to children on Nauru.



But Dr. Barri Phatarfod from doctors4refugees, an advocacy group, said more action is urgently needed.



"The children on Nauru are pre-adolescent," she said. They are six, seven, eight, ten. And when you see a ten [to] twelve-year-old attempt to take their own life, like this most recent case that this twelve-year-old girl, her attempt to set herself on fire was witnessed apparently by other children. So what kind of effect do you think that is going to have on those developing children?"



Nauru is Australia's last remaining offshore processing camp for asylum seekers intercepted at sea. Canberra says the facility is a deterrent and has stopped people from risking their lives trying to reach Australia by boat. Detainees are told they have no chance of being resettled in Australia.



Nauru was first used as an offshore camp in 2001 when a Norwegian freighter had rescued more than 400 mainly Afghan Hazara refugees in international waters north of Australia. Canberra refused to accept them and sent them instead to the new processing facility in Nauru. It closed in 2007, but was reopened in 2012.



Another South Pacific camp on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea (PNG) sponsored by Australia was officially closed last year. Hundreds of asylum seekers and refugees remain in PNG. While Australia refuses to resettle them, some have been granted entry to the United States.



Conditions in the facilities have been consistently condemned by rights groups.