Sources say move intended to spare visiting leaders the sight of people living in notorious camp

Nauru’s government has moved asylum seekers out of the detention centre and demolished the tents ahead of the Pacific Islands Forum next week.

The tents at regional processing centre 3 (RPC-3) were erected five years ago, and at least 100 people have continued to live in them since the facility was deemed “open” in 2015.

Photos and videos taken on the island this week purport to show workers dismantling the tents.

Island sources and advocates say the move is to ensure there are no children living in tents behind the camp fences when foreign leaders and visitors arrive, given previous requests from families to move have repeatedly and recently been rejected by centre authorities.

“If it was right for people to live in mouldy, dirty, insecure tents for five years, why is ABF [Australian Border Force] so fearful to show it and be proud of itself?” one person on the island said. “Why do they abolish the hell they made and hide it?”

Some asylum seekers have said they had no warning, while others said they had heard rumours of the plan some weeks ago. Some people were allegedly told they would be given refugee status and ID after they moved.

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“They cleaned and washed the camp in a way that you can’t believe so many people have been ill, killed, tortured and humiliated in this place at all,” said one witness.

“They weren’t aggressive and pushy. The officers weren’t violent anymore. They just want us to move the camp.”

Guardian Australia was told some are sharing new accommodation, and the swift move had affected some people’s mental health.



“They came in our tent and brought a bag for us to pack our stuff and said, ‘you should go to the community because they’re going to close the camp before the guys come from other countries’,” said one.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Workers seen dismantling the tents on Nauru, but the asylum seekers who were housed there are now in limbo.

“I’m happy because here is not perfect but it’s really better than camp,” said another. “After we lost a friend it was really hard to stay in the camp. It’s not really good here but it’s better than camp.”

Australian employees are being confined to RPC-1, where the medical and other administrative facilities are, and refugees working at the Menen Hotel have been stood down from work so they won’t have incidental contact with visiting leaders.

Most of the children who have been moved from the camp have been there more than five years, living in tents that health surveys have shown are filled with dangerous levels of toxic mould.

They and their families have been moved to Australian-built accommodation in Ijuw district days before the forum.

“The tents were worse but the community is a complete disaster,” one woman living in the community said. “There is nowhere to go. Everything is expensive and the wages are low.

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“We are stuck between a rock and a hard place. We are in limbo and can’t make any plans for our future.”

The critical health of children held on the island has attracted intense public, political and legal attention in recent weeks, with scores of critically ill children ordered from the island by doctors – and courts when doctors’ orders have been ignored.

More than 50 of the 114 children held on the island have been formally recommended by doctors to be moved off Nauru. Self-harm and suicide attempts are almost daily occurrences in children as young as 10 and hunger strikes are common. Several children have been diagnosed with the rare “resignation syndrome”, where they simply withdraw from life, refusing to speak, eat, get out of bed, go to the toilet, wash themselves, or even open their eyes.

The Nauruan hospital is regarded as not safe by the Australian government’s health contractor International Health and Medical Services.

The Nauruan government has taken a number of steps to avoid scrutiny of the Australian-run centres during the forum. Usually journalists are required to pay an $8,000 non-refundable visa application fee, which is routinely rejected. Just two Australian news organisations have legally reported from Nauru: Channel 9’s 60 Minutes and Sky News.



Ahead of the Pacific Islands Forum, the Nauruan government has waived the fee but limited the number of media spots available, purportedly due to accommodation issues. It has specifically banned the ABC from attending. The Guardian formally applied for a visa but was rejected.

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Nauru’s government has also released statements urging attending journalists to focus on the forum and “not engage in activities that cause or encourage disruption or civil unrest”.

Nauru’s “unlawful assembly” law prohibits people gathering in groups of three or more where “the assembly … would cause a reasonable person to fear … unlawful violence against people or property”.



The laws have previously been used arbitrarily to break up protests by refugees on the islands, and even to stop parliamentarians leading demonstrations.

“Gatherings of more than three refugees will be considered to be unlawful assembly by the government of Nauru police and so protests will be shut down on that basis.”

Recently introduced laws also make it an offence, punishable by up to five years’ jail, to show disrespect to the Nauruan flag, emblem or anthem. Under the laws, people must stop their car if they are driving through a public place and the anthem is playing.