Why a 21-Year-Old Refugee Has Just Set Herself on Fire

Right now, doctors in the Royal Brisbane Hospital are fighting to save the life of a 21-year-old Somali woman called Hodan. Hodan's suicide attempt comes just days after a 23-year-old Iranian man named Omid died in the very same hospital. Both were being held at Australia's notorious offshore immigration centre on the Pacific island of Nauru. And both chose a horrifying method to end their lives: They set themselves on fire.

Hodan and Omid are the latest casualties of Australia's immigration policies, which have been roundly criticized by international human rights groups. Refugees and asylum seekers arriving in Australia can be sent to Nauru, which has been plagued by allegations of sexual harassment, rape, and the sexual abuse of minors. Whilst there, they cannot work, survive on an allowance of around $12 a day, and stand little hope of being reunited with their families. Some have been held at the facility for over three years.

Human rights groups have long since raised concerns about how living conditions in offshore detention facilities may be contributing to mental health issue among inmates, many of who are women and children. As Amnesty International spokesperson Kate Schuetze puts it: "The desperation that must have driven these asylum seekers to take such an action [to self-immolate] is hard to contemplate." She adds that organizations like Amnesty find it increasingly difficult to get access to Nauru to inspect the conditions of the facility.

Given the secrecy surrounding Nauru, Broadly reached out to Australia's Refugee Action Coalition to find out more. "Hodan is a Somali asylum seeker who was transferred to Nauru in November 2013," activist Ian Rintoul says. "They found her to be a refugee and she was living outside of the main camp in refugee settlements around the coast of the island. Then, in November last year, she was in a motorbike accident and suffered a severe head injury."

She was transferred to mainland Australia for treatment in November, and she remained in a facility until April 27. "Hodan was known to the authorities to have developed quite severe mental health issues. Prior to her November transfer, she'd drunk washing powder [to harm herself], attempted suicide in other ways, and been placed in a mental health hospital." Despite Hodan's history of mental illness, the immigration authorities transferred her back to Nauru.

Rintoul is at pains to emphasize the wider context for Hodan's actions. "There's a mental health epidemic in places like Nauru which is caused by the conditions of being in detention. The Australian government has actually created a mental health crisis. People in Nauru have been there for almost three years. There's no resettlement arrangements; no education; they're not able to do normal things like have jobs. They have no future, and no hope."

Australian immigration minister Peter Dutton has suggested that self-immolation incidents are a form of political protest and not suicide, even blaming refugee advocates for "encouraging" people to "behave in a certain way." Rintoul dismisses these claims: "I don't think people are setting themselves alight, knowing that they're going to die, in protest. These are people who are at the end of their tether, who are desperate, who don't see any alternative."

Questions are being asked about how it is possible that Hodan managed to attempt suicide at all. As Rintoul explains: "Someone who was meant to be under 24 hour suicide watch was able to get out of their room, avoid being seen, find some petrol and set fire to herself. I think it demonstrates a complete lack of care, to someone who was so vulnerable."

Meanwhile, Australian authorities have announced that additional mental health workers will be sent to Nauru. Rintoul is sceptical that this will alleviate the situation in Nauru. "Sending mental health workers to a place that's generating a mental health crisis is pointless. They won't be able to actually prevent the crisis from unfolding." Hodan's story is by no means unique; Rintoul tells me he's heard of hundreds of incidences of self-harm.

There is some hope, however, that facilities such as Nauru will soon be shut down. Just last week, an Australian offshore immigration camp on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island was ruled by a court to be illegally detaining around 850 male asylum seekers. A lawyer representing the men has filed a compensation claim in the region of $125,000 per individual. As Schuetze puts it: "Surely this must be the moment when Australia ends this cruel and abusive system which has clearly proved the wrong course, by any measure?"