Protest for asylum seekers
A group of around twenty protesters occupy Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's electoral office, demanding the end to the policy of offshore detention of asylum seekers, in the Sydney suburb of Edgecliff, Australia, October 14, 2015. Reuters/David Gray

Australian ethicists have warned European countries not to adopt Australia’s immigration system. The Leave campaigners for the EU referendum have vowed to adopt “genuine Australian-style points based immigration system” to curb the influx of refugees in the UK, but experts from Australia said the system is “morally offensive.”

In a special issue of Journal of Medical Ethics, ethicists said Australia’s lack of transparency in handling refugees has helped perpetuate human rights abuses and torture of asylum seekers. Last year, the Border Force Acts introduced passage that made speaking up about the abuse in asylum centres by current or former “trusted persons” a criminal offence punishable by two years’ prison sentence.

Despite the gag order, reports of human rights abuses and tortures have been reported. The United Nations had also expressed concern over the conditions of asylum seekers in Australia’s offshore processing centres after finding Australia to be in breach of the UN Convention Against Torture.

“The situation in Australia is particularly important when seen in the broader context of the humanitarian crises in Syria which is forcing people to seek refuge throughout the Middle East and Europe,” wrote Dr John-Paul Sagngaran of the University of New South Wales and Professor Deborah Zion of the Centre for Cultural Diversity and Wellbeing.

“Australia’s mandatory detention regime, with an emphasis on deterrence, is being promoted by the likes of Australia’s former prime minister, Tony Abbott, with some evidence that he is being listened to. This now includes the Prime Minister of the UK, David Cameron, calling for the European Union to adopt Australian styled and inspired immigration policies.”

However, Sanggaran and Zion said there is increasing evidence that Australia is engaged in torturing asylum seekers throughout the immigration detention centres. There were reported instances of waterboarding, or torture technique that simulates drowning, as well as zipping, or tying an individual to a metal bed with cable ties and then throwing the bed into the air to cause injury to the individual when the bed crashes to the ground.

The article added that secrecy is at the core of the human rights abuse in detention centres. Since healthcare professionals and others have been legally prohibited to talk about the events in the centres, the system ensures that there can be no recompense or apology given to the victims.

“Europe is contending with the largest migration since the Second World War resulting from the Syrian crisis. The authors in the strongest terms counsel others against following on the same path as Australia, least the same mistakes and unjustifiable suffering come to be repeated,” the paper reads.