The Undesirables: Inside Nauru

When it comes to asylum seekers on Nauru, we learn only what the Australian government wants us to know. In the wake of The Nauru Files, see eyewitness accounts of what is happening inside the Nauru detention centre through The Undesirables.

Mark Isaacs went to work inside the Nauru detention centre in 2012. As a Salvation Army employee, he provided humanitarian aid to the men interned in the camp. What hesaw there moved him to write this book.

The Undesirables chronicles his time on Nauru, detailing daily life and the stories of the men held there; the self-harm, suicide attempts, and riots; the rare moments of joy; the moments of deep despair. He takes us behind the gates of Nauru and humanises a political debate usually ruled by misleading rhetoric.

In a strange twist of fate, Mark's father, Professor David Isaacs, travelled to Nauru in December 2014 to investigate how children were treated in detention. This revised edition of The Undesirables reveals the human rights abuses Professor Isaacs discovered on Nauru, and interrogates how little has changed for people in detention.