The Sydney lawyer for an Eastern European asylum seeker in Villawood Immigration Detention Centre says every day she speaks to her client she fears it will be the last.
“Every time I hang up, I wonder if this may be the last time we speak,” Alison Battisson told SBS News.
She says she has prepared for the hospitalisation of her client - who is in his early 30s - and has written a list of what she needs to take with her “so I can continue my legal practice from his hospital room, if I am allowed”.
“I will do everything I can to ensure he does not die alone,” she said.
Ms Battisson says her client - who has been in immigration detention since 2013 - has lost at least 25kg in the past year, dropping from a weight of 70kg.
“The weight loss of my client is just one of the symptoms of his illness, but the government seem determined to categorise it as a protest. This is manifestly dangerous and the UN has now asked the Australian government to give my client the urgent medical care he needs to save his life," she said.
“I have been told that my client has weeks, not months, to live … he is starving to death."
The man has been taken to hospital in Sydney on four occasions since 8 August, Ms Battisson said.
The man had been in detention in Melbourne until March this year and was due to be deported last year. Source: Supplied
She sought interim measures from the United Nations Human Rights Committee last month under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in an effort to compel the Australian Border Force to provide him with urgent medical care.
But while the UN responded in a letter dated 9 September, the man remains in the detention centre.
The UN letter includes a request that the man be provided with the “necessary healthcare” to protect his life. “Under rule 94 of the Committee’s rules of procedure, the State party has ... been requested to provide the necessary healthcare to protect the life of the author,” it states.
The letter also requests the government to “assess the conditions of his detention and the need for continuing detention until a final decision about the author's status is taken, and provide the author with clarifications about current plans concerning his removal”.
The UN letter includes a request that the man be provided with the “necessary healthcare” to protect his life. Source: Supplied
The man had been in detention in Melbourne until March this year and was due to be deported last year.
The move to Villawood separated him from his extended support network, Ms Battison said, which included a close friend who is a nutritionist and has made numerous offers to support and house him.
A spokesperson for Human Rights Watch said in a statement: “This case is devastating and highlights the horrendous impact of long term immigration detention. When people are detained for such extended period of times, it’s no wonder we see cases where people have lost their will to live”.
“We urgently call on the Australian government to find alternatives to immigration detention, particularly for people with disabilities and those who pose minimal security risks.”
Questions were sent to ABF and its contracted medical provider IHMS about Ms Battison’s client and what steps are taken to seek expert clinical care for any detainee who has continued to lose weight for an extended period of time. IHMS did not reply to questions.
Earlier this month, an ABF spokesperson said it did not comment on individual cases.
“All detainees in immigration detention have access to health care comparable to that available to the Australian community, including access to qualified health care providers for the treatment and management of identified health concerns or issue,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“The ABF, through IHMS, provide a range of health services to detainees on-site, by doctors, nurses and other medical professionals. Detainees are referred to hospital and/or to a specialist where the required care cannot be undertaken by IHMS staff.
“In general, detainees who choose to refuse food and/or fluid receive regular medical assessments, at least every 24 hours and more frequently if clinically indicated. All instances of food/fluid refusal are appropriately documented, reported, escalated and monitored [and] psychological consultations are also undertaken.
“Detainees are made aware that engaging in food/fluid refusal will not affect the detainee’s immigration decision making processes or outcome in any way.”
Rebekah Holt is a freelance journalist.
