Australian Human Rights Commission Submission to UN Committee Against Torture, 17 October 2014 detainees. Since 2011 steps have been taken by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (formerly the Department of Immigration and Citizenship) to strengthen the mental health services and response across the immigration detention network. However, often it is the detention environment itself which causes mental health concerns. Community detention and bridging visas Since October 2010 the Australian Government has moved increasing numbers of asylum seekers and refugees from closed immigration detention into the community, pending resolution of their claims for protection. This has been achieved through the use of community detention and bridging visas. The Commission welcomes the increased use of community arrangements which brings the Australian Government’s treatment of asylum seekers and refugees closer into alignment with its international human rights obligations. On 21 November 2012 the Minister announced that some asylum seekers who had arrived by boat since 13 August 2012 and remained in Australia would be given bridging visas and permitted to live in the community while their claims for protection were assessed, but that these asylum seekers would not be permitted to work. The Commission strongly supports the use of bridging visas as an alternative to detention. However, the Commission is concerned about the consequences of prohibiting asylum seekers from working; particularly as many asylum seekers may potentially be living on bridging visas without the right to work for years while waiting for their claims to be processed. Third country processing The Commission has repeatedly expressed concerns about third country processing in Nauru and Manus Island, Papua New Guinea (PNG): • Third country processing arrangements may not protect asylum seekers from being removed to a country where they face a real risk of significant harm, as they depend on broad discretions in the Minister; these do not constitute fair and efficient asylum procedures as required under the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention). • There are particular concerns about the removal of any lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex (LGBTI) asylum seekers to a country in which homosexual activity is criminalised, as it is in PNG • Both the Nauru and Manus Island processing centres are closed detention centres, allowing asylum seekers no freedom of movement. No timeframe has been given as to when the facilities will be transitioned to open facilities • All transferees, including children, have been subjected to mandatory detention. There is no individualised assessment of the need for detention • Asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island have been subjected to lengthy 33