Last child refugees to leave Australia’s notorious Nauru detention camp
- Under Australia’s hardline immigration policy, asylum seekers who are intercepted at sea trying to reach the country are sent to camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru
- The camps have been widely criticised by the United Nations and human rights groups
Australia announced on Sunday that the last child refugees held on the Pacific atoll of Nauru will soon be sent to the United States, ending the banishment of children under the government’s harsh asylum seeker policy.
The psychiatric and physical suffering of children has been the major criticism of the government’s policy since 2013 to send asylum seekers who attempt to reach Australia by boat to an immigration camp on Nauru or men-only facilities on Papua New Guinea.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the last four asylum seeker children on Nauru would soon be resettled with their families in the United States under a deal struck in the final months of US President Barack Obama’s administration.
“Every asylum seeker child has now been removed from Nauru or has had their claim processed and has a clear path off the island,” Morrison said in a statement.
The United States agreed in 2016 to accept up to 1,250 refugees. More than 1,000 others remain on the islands and face uncertain futures.
Law firm Maurice Blackburn said it would continue its legal fight until all asylum seekers were removed from the island camps.