In a scathing report released Wednesday, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said asylum seekers on the Pacific island nation of Nauru are routinely denied critical medical care, frequently attempt suicide and endure physical assaults by locals that go unpunished.
Australia's Department of Immigration and Border Protection said it "strongly refutes" many of the allegations in the report, the Associated Press reported.
Australia refuses to accept any asylum seekers who attempt to reach its shores by boat. Instead, it pays Nauru and the Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea to hold them.