Pro-refugees protesters rally outside the Immigration Office in Brisbane, Australia, February 5, 2016.
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The government of Nauru on Tuesday (16 August) dismissed the claims of refugee and asylum seeker abuse in its immigration detention centre and said most of the allegations were fabricated.
Hitting back at the claims contained in the leaked documents, which date from 2013 to 2015, the Nauruan government said asylum-seekers had made up majority in hope of being relocated to Australia.
Ms Hayden said Australia’s Government is still reluctant to take up our Government’s offer to take 150 refugees from Nauru each year.
Dutton issued the comment after The Guardian published a massive cache of leaked documents dubbed the “Nauru files”, which detailed reports of alleged sexual abuse, assault, and self-harm at the center, most involving refugee children.
Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has criticised both Nauru and Australia’s Immigration Minister Peter Dutton for playing down the abuse claims.
‘Aust left wing media, greens MPs and advocates still using refugees as pawns for their political agendas.
Australia detains people who come to the country to seek asylum on the islands of Manus in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, a practice which has been criticized by rights groups for subjecting the detainees to inhumane conditions.
“Some people have even gone to the extent of self-harming and people have self-immolated in an effort to get to Australia and certainly some have made false allegations”.
“The allegations contained in the documents must be systematically and properly investigated and those responsible held accountable”, Shamdasani said, urging the authorities in Nauru and Australia to promptly put in place preventive measures and ensure the protection of the physical and mental integrity of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.
She also urged Nauru, as a party to the Optional Protocol on the UN Convention against Torture, to establish a national mechanism for the prevention of torture.
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The report accused Australia’s government of failing to address serious abuses as it pursued what appeared to be a “deliberate policy to deter further asylum seekers from arriving in the country by boat”.
