As the COVID-19 crisis rapidly unfolds, doctors are calling on the Federal government to release all immigrant detainees to avoid a public health catastrophe for detainees and the broader community.

For the past 30 years Australia has adopted a policy of mandatory immigration detention. While people can be imprisoned for a number of reasons, for example, overstaying a visa, or breaching visa conditions, by and large this policy disproportionately impacts asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat.

This is despite the fact that seeking asylum without authorization is legal under the UN Refugee Convention, to which Australia is a signatory.

Australian detention facilities have long come under criticism for their human rights violations and prosecutors with the International Criminal Court recently said that Australia’s offshore detention facilities constitute crimes against humanity. There’s also been well documented cases of abuse, unrest and even deaths.

The Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases (Asid), the Australian College of Infection Prevention and Control (ACIPC) and Doctors for Refugees have all said that immigration detention centers are ripe for Covid-19 transmission.

In this episode we speak with Dr. Barri Phataford, a Sydney based GP who is the president and founder of Doctors for Refugees about what the COVID-19 crisis will mean for asylum seekers in Australia both inside and outside of detention.

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