Australia violated human rights treaty with Nauru detainees, UN committee finds

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A United Nations Human Rights Committee has ruled that Australia violated the rights of asylum seekers it had arbitrarily detained in Nauru. It’s called on Australia to provide adequate compensation to victims.

Transcript

00:00Two really serious decisions made here by the UN Human Rights Committee to do with asylum

00:08seekers and refugees held in detention on Nauru. So two cases, but I want to focus on

00:16one of them to do with 24 unaccompanied minors. Now they were fleeing persecution from their

00:22home countries. They were en route to Australia, intercepted and then transferred, this was

00:27in 2014, to Nauru. And this statement that we've seen from the UN Human Rights Committee

00:34talks about the conditions there, saying that there was insufficient water supply and sanitation,

00:40inadequate healthcare. Almost all of those people, they say, suffered in terms of their

00:47mental health and also physical wellbeing as well. So saying too that that group of

00:55people remained there in detention, even though all but one of them was granted refugee

01:00status. So the complainants have argued here that Australia violated its international

01:07obligations, particularly to do with arbitrary detention. Now this statement from the UN

01:14says that Australia argued that there was no valid substantiation that this happened

01:20within Australia's jurisdiction, saying that it happened in Nauru. But the counterargument

01:26to that and what the UN Committee established was that Australia had significant control

01:32and influence. So we should have a statement that we can bring you on screen now with a

01:38quote from a member of the UN Human Rights Committee, talking about that these decisions

01:44sent a clear message to all states, saying where there is power or effective control,

01:50there is responsibility. The outsourcing of operations does not absolve states of accountability.

01:56Offshore detention facilities are not human rights free zones for the state party. So

02:02saying where a state has effective control, its obligations under international law remain

02:08firmly in place. Also calling on Australia to provide some sort of adequate compensation

02:14to victims. Also calling for reform to ensure that a similar situation doesn't happen again,

02:21suggesting that there needs to be a review of migration laws in the country. Now I have

02:27been in touch with the federal government. We're expecting to receive comment from the

02:31Home Affairs Department soon, but haven't received it just yet.

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