“People here don’t have a real life. We are just surviving. We are dead souls in living bodies. We are just husks. We don’t have any hope or motivation”. – A woman stuck on Nauru
For over 1,000 refugees and people seeking asylum, the small pacific state of Nauru is an island of despair they’ve been deported to simply for seeking safety in Australia. But for Spanish multinational Ferrovial, Nauru is a treasure island from which it makes millions of dollars.
The system Australia has set up on Nauru for refugees and people seeking asylum, including children, involves deliberate cruelty and amounts to torture. They are subject to humiliation, neglect and abuse, leading to poor physical and mental health.
Their suffering is made worse by the fact that they are trapped on the island – they cannot leave, even after being officially recognised as a refugee. They have no idea if or when Australia or Nauru will allow them to leave the island.
Ferrovial is the sole shareholder of Broadspectrum, the Australian company that runs the refugee “processing” centres on Nauru and Manus Island and facilitates this abusive system. Ferrovial is making millions of dollars – while knowing the appalling conditions faced by refugees and people seeking asylum on the island.
Ferrovial has publicly claimed it will end its operations on the two islands when its current contract with the Australian government ends on 31 October 2017. We want to make sure that it sticks to its promise.
Demand Ferrovial stops profiting from abuse and ends its operations on Nauru and Manus Island.