Representatives of the UNHCR are to meet Australian officials tomorrow to discuss the findings of their inspections of Canberra's detention centres in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.
Participants hold a candle light vigil in May 2016 for asylum seekers who set themselves on fire on Nauru. Photo: AFP
The Saturday Paper said trips were conducted in April and May this year, and draft reports were written in June, but reportedly withheld because both Nauru and Australia were due to hold elections.
A forensic psychiatrist Dr Nina Zimmerman says interim reports, which made urgent recommendations, were provided to the Australian government months ago yet ignored.
The UNHCR reportedly found that the incidence of depressive or anxiety disorder and/or post-traumatic stress disorder among the asylum seekers and refugees in Australia's care was among the highest recorded of any population in the world and the predictable outcome of protracted detention.
She said she has come forward because she has a duty of care that's being frustrated by the UNHCR's timidity and the Australian government's indifference.
The detention of the refugees in PNG was declared unconstitutional in April.
No settlement options have been found, with Australia insisting that none of the people it had sent to the camps will ever be allowed to get to Australia.
