Island Of Despair

TESTIMONY ANALYSIS
Agger and Jensen found that testimony is an open attestation of victims’ private pain and a condemnation of injustice with a psychotherapeutic effect. Testimony allows individualised pain to be experienced by the audience as personal encroachment, which then engenders the empathy of the audience for such pain. It can also be seen as an advocacy against political oppression and the violation of human rights. In Island of Despair, an Iranian refugee testified to the fact that there was no real difference between being detained at the detention centre and living freely as recognised refugees on Nauru. “We now understand that getting the refugee status does not give us any freedom, we have no idea how long we are in for
Island of Despair displayed a drawing by a 16-year-old Iranian refugee. The drawing depicted seven children with tears who were contained in a house named as “Naru”. The spelling mistake of Nauru implies that refugee children on Nauru are not receiving proper education. The children were isolated from the sunlight, which is a metaphor of hope. Even refugee children on Nauru realise that they have no hope with their lives. Island of Despair further exhibited testimonies regarding the suffering of refugee children as a result of diverse human rights violations. A service-provider witness said that refugee children who attended local schools were being hit by teachers, and threatened with machetes by Nauruan children. A secondary refugee student said that the Nauruan boys run up, hugged her and touched her bottom. A teenage refugee reported that local children tried to pull off her hijab. These testimonies demonstrate significant violations of children’s fundamental human rights. Refugee children are suffering from physical injuries, threatening, sexual assaults, and all sorts of discrimination. Testimonies unveil the unacceptable environment surrounding refugee children, and engender the empathy of the audience for their suffering. This compels the audience to ponder on why the Australian Government blatantly allows discriminatory behaviours to inflict harm on refugees, and influence them to blame the
Owing to wars and humanitarian interventions in their homelands, refugees are forced to seek protection from persecution in other countries. Australia is a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention. Nonetheless, the Australian Government established detention centres to detain refugees forever, without giving them an adequate standard of living. Interpreting and adopting different analytical techniques from academics provides useful insight into how photographs, language, narrations and testimonies can affect the audience by moulding their perceptions of refugee issues. It is perceptible that Amnesty International is able to gather support and encourage the audience to act in the interest of upholding refugees’ fundamental human