Rohingya mother, Mama Citi, is the first person to give birth on the Australian run offshore detention facility of Nauru.
Baby Nourkayas was born on 18 September weighing 3kg, both mother and child are reportedly fine according to the Refugee Action Coalition Sydney website. Nourkayas is Mama Citi’s third child, the two other children and father live in the same facility.
“We are very happy that all has gone well for mother and baby; but it is a risky precedent. The fact that refugees are sent to PNG and asylum seeker mothers are sent to Australia to have their babies says that Australian authorities do not believe that Nauru is safe,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.
“The Australian government has a responsibility for all babies born to asylum seeker and refugee families; all pregnant women should be brought to Australia to give birth.
“We wish the family well, but we know the conditions on Nauru – no education, and no resettlement – put a dark cloud over their future.”
The Australian run facility has come under massive pressure from doctors and whistle blowers after continuous reports and leaks of sexual assaults and rampant mental health issues of those detained.
In June, 40 past and present workers from detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru wrote an open letter to the Australian government, defying a secrecy law that would see officials who spoke out on detention centre conditions receive a mandatory two-year prison sentence, criticising conditions in the centres.