Mark Isaacs (1)

“Australia’s Nauruan gulag”

A very well-written and moving account by a young (secular) employee of the Salvation Army, who applied to work in an Australian camp for illegal immigrants on the tiny island of Nauru. Faced with major issues ourselves on the immigration topic, I think the scary thing for me was not so much Australia’s way of handling it (terrible though it is) but the veil of secrecy that is drawn over their activities. Thus the visa fee to Nauru is now $8000 – non-refundable even if you’re not granted one. “There was a complete media ban on camp operations”….”The Wilson guards monitored all people within the camp, not just the men. They monitored Salvos (Salvation army workers), listened to our conversations, recorded our interactions”…. “When journalists arrived on the island, Wilson Security kept photos of them on their guard house wall so they could be easily identified and prevented from entering.”
It was also quite a shock to see how the Salvation Army, an organisation I had always regarded as Christian based, was forcing its employees to say nothing – indeed to lie – in order to keep a lucrative contract.
The author writes movingly of the men he met – largely from Sri Lanka, Iran and Iraq – and their gradually eroding mental health awaiting a decision on when (if ever) they could settle in Australia. “Criminals were given a sentence to serve; these men were not even given that.” Unsure whether to fritter away the months and years in a substandard camp where self-harm and suicide are commonplace, or to return home and face the attendant dangers, this is a thought-provoking and informative book.… (more)

Mark Isaacs was hired by the Salvation Army (without having an interview and without receiving induction or any other training) to provide support to the men detained by the Australian government on the island of Nauru. These men, from diverse cultural backgrounds (Iranian, Iraqi, Sri Lankan) were detained on Nauru because they had tried to enter Australia via boat as asylum seekers. The Australian government policy on asylum seekers is a disgrace and Mark is one of the few people to have so far broken silence on the matter of how the men are treated in the camps. This book is heartbreaking - Mark details the mens' slow descents into despair and hopelessness, he records the self-harm, the suicide attempts, the riots, the madness and all the time asks "why?" - why are we treating human beings like this?… (more)