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Australia starving refugees into submission: Activist

Tuesday, 07 November 2017 2:34 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 07 November 2017 4:05 PM ]

This undated handout picture received from the Refugee Action Coalition on August 7, 2017 shows the Australian-run East Lorengau Transit Accommodation for refugees in East Lorengau on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. (Photo by AFP)

There is a crisis for asylum seekers in Australia, because over 600 refugees are “denied basic necessities” in order to be pushed into returning to their homelands, says an activist.

“It is an indescribable situation that the Australian government is trying to starve these people into submission,” Ian Rintoul told Press TV on Tuesday.

The government constantly uses “barbaric treatment” against asylum seekers, whereas one of the underpinnings of the refugee convention is that asylum seekers need to be allowed to cross borders, the activist with the Refugee Action Coalition said.

Papua New Guinea (PNG)’s Supreme Court has rejected an appeal to restore water, food, and power services to a refugee detention center that has been abandoned by Australia on Manus Island, sparking human rights concerns.