An Australian activist, who claims she secretly monitored asylum seekers being held on Nauru, says many of the detainees are mentally and physically ill.
Kate Durham told the Australian newspaper, The Age, that she and a BBC reporter posed as tourists and used hidden cameras to record the state of those being held under Australia's so called Pacific Solution.
Ms Durham says she was shocked by conditions.
She said many of the detainees in Nauru suffered from contagious stomach and skin infections due to filthy living environments caused by a chronic shortage of water.
Ms Durham said millions of Australian taxpayers dollars were being wasted on building facilities on an island incapable of sustaining its own population.