The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has slammed the state of Australian offshore asylum camps.
Refugees arriving in Australia are now processed in camps in Nauru, where several detainees have conducted hunger strikes in protest at the conditions.
Speaking to ABC Radio, Navi Pillay said the hunger strikes were an "indication of the unbearable conditions under which they're being held".
She said she was “alarmed” about the strikes, adding that "it would be a blight on Australia's good human rights record if it doesn't respect the rights of asylum seekers".
"I fear that this is another road to indefinite detention," she said, pointing out that "detention of asylum-seekers should be the last resort, not the first".
Most of the asylum seekers in the camps are from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
