Published Articles

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles The human rights implications of Australia’s war on people smugglers

The Guardian: Alex fled civil war into an Australian nightmare with no end

First published by The Guardian. The view west from Perth’s Kings Park looks out over…

Mark IsaacsDecember 24, 2025

Published Articles

PEN Sydney: press freedom in Israel

The Israeli government’s censorship and propaganda strategies are restricting Israeli media reporting on Gaza, even…

Mark IsaacsJuly 28, 2025

Published Articles

PEN Sydney: Silencing journalism in Gaza

Over the past year, Palestine has become the world’s most dangerous country for journalists, as…

Mark IsaacsJuly 28, 2025

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles Published Podcasts The human rights implications of Australia’s war on people smugglers

The Saturday Paper and 7am podcast: a travesty of justice

This story was originally published by The Saturday Paper and by the 7am podcast. Ali…

Mark IsaacsJune 24, 2025

Published Articles

Next level destruction: Northern NSW floods

The towns of the New South Wales northern rivers are used to floods – they…

Mark IsaacsMarch 8, 2022

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles

Behrouz Boochani: Writing as Resilience and Resistance

This is a short extract from a chapter in a collection titled Creative writing practice :…

Mark IsaacsOctober 28, 2021

Afghanistan Published Articles

The Fall of Kabul: A Peace Imagined

On Sunday 15 August, Khalid woke up at dawn and fled his home in the…

Mark IsaacsAugust 17, 2021

Published Articles

The calm before the storm: inside a quiet emergency department

This piece was first published by the Wentworth Courier. The Emergency Department at St Vincent’s…

Mark IsaacsMay 3, 2020

Migrant Caravan Published Articles

Who runs the migrant caravan?

This article was first published by The Spectator. Who runs the Migrant Caravan? Towards the…

Mark IsaacsFebruary 19, 2019

Migrant Caravan Published Articles

Why the term “Migrant Caravan” is problematic

When I first heard of the “migrant caravan” I thought it was a grossly inadequate…

Mark IsaacsNovember 27, 2018

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles

Overland: Going inside the Manus Island Detention Centre

Step foot inside the Manus Island Detention centre in the midst of an international humanitarian…

Mark IsaacsDecember 22, 2017

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles

Berlin Literatur Festival: A Moonlight Tour of the Damned

An in-depth investigation into the humanitarian disaster unfolding on Manus Island.

Mark IsaacsDecember 11, 2017

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles

Sydney Morning Herald: Simmering tensions on Manus Island

"This was not the Manus people's decision. The refugees want to go to Australia. They…

Mark IsaacsNovember 18, 2017

Afghanistan Published Articles

Responsibility to Protect: Peace Talks

This is an excerpt from the Responsibility to Protect report published by the Edmund Rice…

Mark IsaacsSeptember 19, 2017

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles

Hardie Grant: The Undesirables Teachers’ Resource

A high school teachers' resource, commissioned by Hardie Grant, to study The Undesirables: Inside Nauru…

Mark IsaacsAugust 5, 2017

Afghanistan Published Articles

Responsibility to Protect: Political instability

This is an excerpt from the Responsibility to Protect report published by the Edmund Rice…

Mark IsaacsJuly 27, 2017

Afghanistan Published Articles

Responsibility to Protect: Security situation in Afghanistan

This is an excerpt from the Responsibility to Protect report published by the Edmund Rice…

Mark IsaacsJuly 18, 2017

Afghanistan Published Articles

Responsibility to Protect: The U.S.-led military invasion

This is an excerpt from the Responsibility to Protect report published by the Edmund Rice…

Mark IsaacsJuly 13, 2017

Afghanistan Published Articles

Edmund Rice Centre: The Responsibility to Protect

The Responsibility to Protect report is the continuation of the Edmund Rice Centre’s determination to…

Mark IsaacsJuly 10, 2017

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles

Nauru Burning Extract: The Dog Pound

This extract from my second book, Nauru Burning, describes the days after the 2013 riot…

Mark IsaacsFebruary 26, 2017

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles

The Guardian Australia: Excerpt from The Undesirables Second Edition (2016)

Hardie Grant Books has decided to launch a second edition of my book The Undesirables:…

Mark IsaacsDecember 28, 2016

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles

The Vocal: Go Back To The Bible You Came From, Why Peter Dutton Is Wrong (2016)

Peter Dutton is sick and tired of “political correctness gone mad”, according to his interview…

Mark IsaacsDecember 21, 2016

Published Articles

Reading Australia: Just Macbeth! (2016)

This essay on Just Macbeth! was commissioned by Griffith Review and Copyright Agency for its…

Mark IsaacsNovember 22, 2016

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles

The Undesirables Teachers’ Resource (English Subject)

High school teachers' resource to study The Undesirables: Inside Nauru as an English text available…

Octopus 2024October 5, 2016

Displaced People of Asia Series Published Articles

World Policy Journal: Smoking Opium in the Islamic Republic of Iran (2016)

The Islamic Republic of Iran borders the world's principal area of opium production known as…

Mark IsaacsSeptember 15, 2016

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles

New Internationalist: It’s time to close Australia’s abusive detention regime (2016)

When faced with overwhelming evidence of systemic abuse, the Australian government shifted responsibility and blamed…

Mark IsaacsAugust 22, 2016

Published Articles

Pacific Standard: Treating Cerebral Palsy in Rural Bangladesh (2016)

Dr. Gulam Khandaker is a Bengali-born, Sydney-based doctor attempting to witness and record the plight…

Mark IsaacsJune 21, 2016

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles

Mamamia: How A Person Becomes a Whistleblower (2016)

The Refugee Council of Australia asked me to write a piece for their campaign against…

Mark IsaacsMay 27, 2016

Published Articles

Foreign Policy: The Intolerable Cruelty of Australia’s Refugee Deterrence Strategy (2016)

On April 26, the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea declared Australia’s detention of asylum…

Mark IsaacsMay 3, 2016

Displaced People of Asia Series Published Articles

World Policy Journal: The Last of the Qashqa’i Nomads (2016)

I spent a day and an evening with the Qashqa'i nomads of Fars Province, Iran.…

Mark IsaacsApril 20, 2016

Published Articles Wolftress China Diaries

Conscious Magazine: Garments with Stories (2016)

I travelled with Wolftress to the Yunnan and Guizhou provinces of southern China to find…

Mark IsaacsApril 20, 2016

Displaced People of Asia Series Published Articles

Roads and Kingdoms: A Strobe Light Wedding in Mavdasht (2016)

One Iranian wedding, 2 parties, 500 men, and some shots of arak.

Mark IsaacsApril 13, 2016

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles

Right Now: The Breaking of a Man (2016)

A fictional short story about the gradual erosion of a man's spirit in the Australian…

Mark IsaacsMarch 30, 2016

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles

New Matilda: The Truth-Silencers Demand the Truth (2016)

It's a strange world when the Australian Department of Immigration simultaneously suppresses the truth and…

Mark IsaacsFebruary 10, 2016

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles

We Are Better Than This: The Humanitarian Triumph (2015)

We have been told by governments past and present that stopping the boats is a…

Mark IsaacsJanuary 4, 2016

Published Articles

VICE: Partying in the Islamic Republic of Iran (2015)

I travelled to the Islamic Republic of Iran with its strict laws and customs very…

Mark IsaacsDecember 15, 2015

Published Articles The Octopus

Huffington Post: It's Easier to Imprison Someone You're Told is Illegal (2015)

Advocating for the better treatment of people seeking asylum in Australia can often be a…

Mark IsaacsNovember 29, 2015

Displaced People of Asia Series Projects Published Articles

Roads and Kingdoms: A Night of Burma’s Finest Drink (2015)

I spent two months working with the Ta'ang people in the Shan state of Burma.…

Mark IsaacsNovember 20, 2015

Displaced People of Asia Series Published Articles

Huffington Post: The Boats Are The Only Option (2015)

I meet a Rohingya man in Australia after having visited his home in the Rhakine…

Mark IsaacsNovember 13, 2015

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles

Writing to the Wire: If this is a Man (2016)

You who live in the land of plenty, safe from war, torture, and civil unrest,…

Mark IsaacsNovember 3, 2015

Displaced People of Asia Series Published Articles

New Matilda: Inside The Rohingya Refugee Camps (2015)

Ongoing conflict between the Rohingya Muslim population of west Burma and the Rakhine Buddhists has…

Mark IsaacsOctober 24, 2015

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles

VICE: Big Picture Brutality (2015)

This is an excerpt of an article published by VICE Australia regarding the Australian government's…

Mark IsaacsOctober 22, 2015

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles

No Fairness on Nauru (2014)

On Friday 19th July 2013, it was reported that over 150 asylum seekers had rioted…

Mark IsaacsOctober 13, 2015

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles

Deterring Boat Arrivals (2014)

A short analysis of Australia's humanitarian approach to 'saving lives at sea'.

Mark IsaacsOctober 13, 2015

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles

The Salvation Army on Nauru (2014)

A short evaluation of the Salvation Army's role in Nauru.

Mark IsaacsOctober 13, 2015

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles

Nauru Riot Press Release: Salvation Army Staff Condemn Cruel and Degrading Conditions (2013)

A statement by past and present Salvation Army staff members condemning the treatment of those…

Mark IsaacsOctober 13, 2015

Australia's Pacific Solution Published Articles

Non-People Locked Nowhere: An Extract from The Undesirables (2014)

Every person has a breaking point. When you are pushed and prodded towards the brink,…

Mark IsaacsOctober 13, 2015

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