Both the Australian and Papua New Guinean governments failed to contact the family of the Rohingya refugee who died on Manus Island yesterday.
Kon Karapanagiotidis, CEO and founder of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, tweeted this afternoon that the wife of the man only became aware of his death after a member of the ASRC reached out to offer condolences:
I’m lost for words.
One of my @ASRC1 team rang to comfort the wife of #Salim who died on #Manus yesterday only to discover she was the one breaking the news of his death to her. @PeterDutton_MP Dept had not rang her to let her know her husband had died.
I’m lost for words.
— Kon Karapanagiotidis (@Kon__K) May 23, 2018
Journalist Behrouz Boochani, who is himself detained on the island, reported that local police had confirmed the death as a suicide. The man is the seventh person sent by Australia to Manus to die on the island, the third in the last twelve months. The previous two were also reported as suicides.
Replying to request for comment from Ten Daily reporter Josh Butler, the Department of Home Affairs issued a blunt, eight-word statement:
Just received a response back from the Department of Home Affairs: pic.twitter.com/bvcjmmGPxI
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) May 23, 2018
The UNHCR has repeatedly called for Australia to abandon its offshore detention policy.
If you or someone you know would like to talk to someone about mental health, you can call the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 (ages 5 to 25) or BeyondBlue on 1300 22 4636. If you are in crisis, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
