Australian Human Rights Commission Submission to UN Committee Against Torture, 17 October 2014 post-traumatic stress disorder, adjustment disorder and acute stress reaction. There were also high levels of actual and threatened self-harm among these people. Further, there was heavy use of medication including antidepressants, anti-anxiety, psychotropic and sleeping medication among people in detention on Nauru and Manus Island. 184. The Manus Island regional processing centre remains temporary. Accommodation for single adult males is in tents, and families (when they were on the island), were housed in demountable dongas. In June 2013 UNHCR noted cramped, crowded, hot conditions, hygiene concerns, and insufficient division between families and single adult males. UNHCR found that the conditions on Manus Island were harsh and remained below international standards. 185. In December 2012 UNHCR found the conditions in the Nauru regional processing centre to be ‘harsh and unsatisfactory’ with similar concerns to those on Manus Island: the extreme heat, overcrowding, and lack of privacy. 186. Since that time, construction of more permanent structures on Nauru improved the accommodation for a time. However, following the riot in July 2013, asylum seekers are again accommodated primarily in tents. After the riot, staff from the Nauru regional processing centre published a statement describing the conditions for those in detention as ‘cruel and degrading’. 187. The Commission considers that detaining asylum seekers for a prolonged period of time in temporary facilities where some must live in tents, are subjected to harsh weather, have little privacy, and access to only basic facilities, may breach international human rights standards regarding the conditions and treatment of people in detention. 188. The harsh conditions of detention may also lead to breaches of other human rights, such as the right to an adequate level of health care. 189. The PJCHR expressed concern with the ‘absence of legally-binding requirements relating to minimum conditions in regional processing facilities’, and considered that the Australian Government had not demonstrated that the conditions were consistent with the provisions of the ICCPR, the ICESCR, the CRC and the CAT. The PJCHR found that the cumulative effect of the third country processing arrangements was likely to have a significant impact on the physical and mental health of asylum seekers, contrary to the right to health,120 and the prohibition against degrading treatment. 190. The Commission has repeatedly stated that hot, remote locations are not appropriate places to send asylum seeker children, or other vulnerable groups. The mandatory and prolonged detention of children on Nauru and Manus Island breaches the requirement under the CRC to detain children only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.121 Additionally, the conditions of detention may lead to breaches of other children’s rights, for example their right to the highest attainable standard of health and access to health care services, and their right to education. 44