In maiden speech, new high commissioner will point to a chain of human rights violations in detention of asylum seekers The new United Nations high commissioner for human rights will use his maiden speech to accuse Australia of causing a chain of human rights violations through its policy of detaining asylum seekers offshore. Zeid Raad al-Husseins speech , due to be delivered in Geneva on Monday,...
Scott Morrison says detainees will get help adjusting to life on the island as talks continue on deal with Cambodia Thirteen asylum seekers have been allowed to settle in Nauru after being granted refugee status. It is the first group to be processed since the detention facility reopened more than 18 months ago. The group, which includes one Iranian family and four single men from Pakistan, have been...
Immigration minister rejects suggestions that a refugee deal could lead to payments to corrupt politicians and officials Any refugee who refuses resettlement from Nauru to Cambodia should have their claims questioned, according to the immigration minister, Scott Morrison. He also rejects suggestions that a refugee deal could result in payments to corrupt politicians and officials in Cambodia. Continue...
Death of local child raises safety concerns for 190 asylum seeker children detained on the island An 11-year-old girl attacked by stray dogs on Nauru last week has died from her injuries. A Nauru source said that the local girl was found by her father on a beach. Continue reading... ...
ALP's Mark Dreyfus says attorney general silent on matters of justice and conspicuous 'for all the wrong reasons' Labors Mark Dreyfus has launched an attack on the attorney general, George Brandis, over his conspicuous campaigns on changes to the Racial Discrimination Act, his challenge to the ACTs same-sex marriage laws and his handling of the East Timor spying allegations. Writing in Guardian Australia...
We spent a week on Christmas Island as medical consultants we were shocked by the pervasive sadness, the despair in children and in adults, and the lack of dignity offered to detainees The recent announcement that most Australian detention centres will close and all asylum seekers will be transferred offshore to Nauru and Manus Island confirms the fears of children currently detained on Christmas...
Melissa Parke and Anna Burke re-open asylum debate by putting forward motion that Labor should no longer support offshore processing Two federal opposition MPs are seeking to trigger a rethink of Labors support for offshore processing of asylum seekers. The Western Australian MP Melissa Parke gave notice to colleagues on Monday of a motion to be moved at the next caucus meeting that Labor shall no...
Mandatory detention costs rose from $118.4m to $3.3bn in four years, and Commission of Audit expects costs to exceed $10bn The government should reduce services inside immigration detention centres and renegotiate contracts with private firms in order to curb the cost of detaining asylum seekers, according to the commission of audit report released on Thursday. The report describes the mandatory detention...
Deal said to cover asylum seekers in Australian detention and could lead to resettlement of more than 1,000 people Cambodia has agreed to an in-principle arrangement to take asylum seekers in Australian detention in Nauru who are found to be genuine refugees, according to the ABC. Reports emerged in February that Australias foreign minister, Julie Bishop, had asked Cambodias prime minister, Hun Sen,...
The department of justice and border control information sheet that provides model answers to expected questions from transferees detained on the island Continue reading... ...
First asylum seekers could be told of status within weeks, says leaked document on Nauru government letterhead Asylum seekers detained on Nauru who are found to be refugees will be given a five-year working visa for Nauru, a leaked document obtained by Guardian Australia says. The first decisions are due to be handed down in a few weeks time. Guardian Australia also understands that a week-long water...
Exclusive: Charity worker's letter says guard hit girl so hard on head that she fell to the ground Security guards at the family camp on Nauru have been accused of verbally and physically abusing child asylum seekers in a letter of concern from staff at the centre. The letter by a Save the Children Australia worker to the charitys Nauru contractors expresses extremely alarming allegations of mistreatment...
An artillery shell has been discovered in an area that is used to house children, pregnant women and families An unexploded wartime bomb has been found in the section of the offshore processing centre on Nauru that detains children, pregnant women and families, raising serious questions about whether the site is safe to hold asylum seekers. Internal emails from Nauru, obtained exclusively by Guardian...
Australias offshore detention system for asylum seekers under scrutiny following three cases of the mosquito-borne disease An outbreak of dengue fever at an Australian refugee detention centre in Nauru sparked calls on Thursday for greater oversight at the facility, which has been criticised by rights groups and the United Nations. Immigration minister Scott Morrison's office said that medical officers...
Scott Morrison urged to wait for test case before classifying babies born in Australia as unauthorised maritime arrivals Lawyers representing 26 infants born in immigration detention in Australia have written to the immigration minister urging him not to transfer them to Nauru until the court case of baby Ferouz , which will determine whether babies born in detention can be defined as unauthorised...
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention was prevented from inspecting Australia's offshore detention centre The government of Nauru has blocked a UN human rights delegation from visiting the country, making it the second time in a month that UN officials have been prevented from visiting Australias controversial offshore processing centres for asylum seekers. Members of the UN Working Group on...
Baby Ferouz, who is six months old, should not be in detention. He was born in Brisbanes Mater Hospital, the very place where I, and my own children, were born Last Friday night was one of the saddest nights of my life. Accompanied by two colleagues, I had the grim job of visiting a mum and dad at the Brisbane immigration detention centre. We had to tell them that we had lost an application for an...
Asylum seekers’ health and education records fabricated in bid to keep contract, Salvation Army worker tells SBS Paul Farrell ...
Company wins brief that includes maintenance, catering and security in midst of heightened awareness of offshore detention Paul Farrell ...
Immigration department’s lack of oversight and frustration about the future caused the incident, review into the 2013 riot finds Paul Farrell ...