Our refugee rights team have just returned from inspecting Australia's remote detention facilities. During their research trip they spoke directly with hundreds of asylum seekers.

The people who've been in detention for months or years with no end in sight spoke of losing hope, self-harm and suicide as a fact of life. Many said they need pills just to get through the day. In most centres, the use of sleeping pills and other medication is endemic.

The conclusion is impossible to deny: long-term, indefinite detention is crushing people. It’s a policy of trauma, misery and suicide, and it must end.

Ask Minister Bowen to get vulnerable children, families and long-term detainees out of detention right now.

Ask Minister Bowen to move the most vulnerable asylum seekers into the community before more men, women and children and broken by this policy. We'll deliver your signature directly to the Minister for Immigration.

Petition text:

Dear Minister Bowen,

We welcome your recent commitment to move asylum seekers out of detention and into the community. However, we are still extremely concerned about the immediate health and safety of vulnerable detainees who are still locked up.

We ask that you prioritise moving the most at-risk asylum seekers - families, unaccompanied minors and long-term detainees - into the community immediately. Even fairer, cheaper and more humane would be the end of indefinite detention for all asylum seekers in Australia.

We want policies that are in line with our country's international obligations, and reflect the fact that we are a nation able and willing to treat vulnerable asylum seekers with fairness and dignity.