26 May 2015

Australian physicians call for an end to mandatory detention

8:02 pm on 26 May 2015

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians says Australia's policy of mandatory detention of asylum seekers must end.

Bunk beds at the Manus Island asylum seeker detention centre, Papua New Guinea

The College says mandatory detention is inhumane and must end. Photo: AFP

The College says the policy, which includes the housing of hundreds of people in camps on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and on Nauru, is simply inhumane.

Dr Karen Zwi of the University of New South Wales' School of Women and Children's Health, says the College wants all the camps closed and people living in the community on the mainland.

Dr Zwi says Australians need to see that damaging people who have escaped persecution is not the sort of country they want to be.

"Yes of course you want to do some health and security checks but then we want to be generous and allow people to reach safety and reach their potential. Many of these people have enormous ambition, capability, resilience, and can offer us a great deal as a society."