Human rights groups say plan out of step with global expectations and ignores asylum seekers’ suffering

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The plans of Australia’s immigration minister, Peter Dutton, for a decades-long offshore detention relationship with Nauru are “woefully ignorant” of the reality of life on the island for asylum seekers, according to Human Rights Watch.

On Thursday Dutton told a Canberra thinktank that Australia’s regional processing relationship with Nauru would continue for “decades”.

He described Australia as a “migration super power” that had secure borders and also provided for people “in a humane way”.

Asylum-seeker processing at Nauru will 'continue for decades', says Dutton Read more

The looming United Nations general assembly and a migration summit hosted by the US president, Barack Obama, had led to some speculation that Australia might soften its stance but those hopes were largely dashed on Thursday after Dutton’s address.

The Australia director of Human Rights Watch, Elaine Pearson, said Australia was known for its “cruel, selfish policies” to deter asylum seekers.

“Dutton’s claim that the relationship with Nauru on regional processing ‘will last for decades’ is woefully ignorant of the reality on the ground for refugees in Nauru,” she said. “People have been driven to the depths of despair as the high rates of self-harm and suicide attempts show, people have been attacked and assaulted by locals and many refugees on Nauru suffer serious health conditions that haven’t been properly treated.

“Nauru is no place for refugees short or long term. In any case, Nauru has not even agreed to allow people to stay longer than 10 years so it is hard to understand how the policy could last for decades.”

Amnesty International Australia’s refugee campaign co-ordinator Ming Yu Hah said the minister’s comments were “hugely misleading” of what the Australian people were increasingly demanding from the country’s asylum policies.

“He has framed it as activists that are opposing the detention regime on Nauru but, as we’ve seen in the last year alone, people across Australia ... a wide cross section are no longer tolerating the Australian government’s abusive offshore detention regime,” she said.

“We know that the Australian people expect thorough security measures in place and Amnesty supports that. But the Australian people also expect people will provide a robust human rights framework.”



She also said his comments were also “out of step at the global level” and Obama’s summit showed the need for greater and more humane responses to the movement of people across the globe.

Peter Dutton open to refugees on Nauru being resettled in New Zealand Read more

The comments follow other remarks made by the president of the Australian Human Rights Commission on Thursday, before Dutton’s address. The commission launched a new report canvassing regional alternatives to Australia’s detention regime, which said Australia had reached an “impasse” on asylum seeker policy.

In a separate interview with al-Jazeera Dutton appeared to leave open the door to asylum seekers held on Nauru to being resettled in New Zealand.

The New Zealand foreign affairs minister quashed this, stating that the country would not enter into any separate deals with Nauru’s government directly to take refugees.

Iain Lees- Galloway, immigration spokesman for New Zealand’s opposition Labour party, said Australia’s detention centres were an “inhumane way of dealing with refugees” and that the party would be open to working with Australia on taking some refugees from Nauru.

However, he dismissed as “completely inappropriate” Dutton’s apparent desire to “take Australia out of the equation entirely”.

“These refugees are Australia’s responsibility. The decision to put them on Nauru was Australia’s. Australia has a role in their future and their settlement. It is quite inappropriate for Minister Dutton to say Australia will step back and leave New Zealand and Nauru to work it out,” he said.

The Guardian’s publication of the Nauru files has put the treatment and conditions of asylum seekers held on the Pacific island back into the spotlight. The 2,000 incident reports contained detailed allegations of the abuse of asylum seekers, particularly children held by Australia on Nauru.

A parliamentary inquiry has been launched into allegations of abuse of Manus Island and Nauru. The inquiry will also examine what steps Australia has taken to resettle refugees held in the offshore detention centres.