Refugee Update

Refugee crisis: How you can help refugees trying to reach safety in Europe and here in Australia

First, the good news: the PM has agreed to permanently resettle 12,000 Syrian refugees. The 12,000 places will be in addition to the annual offshore quota and Muslims will not be less eligible than other refugees.

Meanwhile, a Syrian asylum seeker has been repatriated after two years at the Manus Island detention centre. Syrian asylum seekers on Manus are being placed under extreme pressure to return home, including those who are severely mentally ill, including the sharing of their information with Syrian authorities.

Refugee Update

Woman allegedly raped in Manus detention centre accuses Transfield of cover-up (GA, 27 August) | Victim's family says it was told guards accused of rape will be returned to Manus (GA, 2 September) | PNG police in talks with Australia to return Manus guards accused of rape (GA, 3 September) | Papua New Guinea PM Peter O'Neill to ask Tony Abbott to return guards accused of Manus Island rape (ABC, 9 September)

Psychiatrist Warns of Risk to Raped Asylum Seeker and Family (Researchers Against Pacific Black Sites, 1 September) | Nauru rapes: 'There is a war on women' (The Saturday Paper, 22 Augut) | Brother of alleged rape victim claims he was urinated on by guards in Nauru (SMH, 8 September)

Mentally ill Iranian asylum seeker girl, 17, begs not to be sent back to Nauru. "A psychiatrist's report... describes self-harm and attempted suicide. '[She] also reported being at the receiving end of inappropriate sexual comments and propositions by security staff while at Nauru detention centre and was, understandably, very, very distressed about this.'" (GA, 1 September)

Former Nauru Wilson Security guard claims sexual harassment of staff is 'rife'. "The perpetrator has since been promoted. That's the kind of culture we're dealing with here. Bullying and sexual harassment are just rife, but there's no one you can talk to and nowhere you can go to report it. The strain on workers is just huge." (GA, 10 September)

Refugees: some facts and figures

Between December 2013 and August 2015, 20 asylum seeker boats attempted to reach Australia, carrying 633 passengers, only to be turned back. That's almost one boat per month.

Fact file: How does Australia's refugee intake compare? (ABC, 8 September)

Fact check: do refugee claims made by Tony Abbott and Peter Dutton stack up? (GA, 8 September)

Fact and fiction with Prime Minister Tony Abbott's refugee intake numbers (SMH, 7 September)

Correcting the record: Australia's response to refugees (RCOA, 24 August)

More asylum seekers have died on Manus Island than have been resettled, report shows (SMH, 16 July)

Ombudsman slams government for long detention rates (SMH, 2 June) | Child in detention for 1113 days, only 25 Rohingya refugees accepted (SMH, 24 July)

Taxpayers spending $1.3m a day to keep asylum seekers in island hellhole [ie Nauru] (Crikey, 23 July)

Fact check: Does Australia spend more on offshore processing than the UN spends on refugee programs in South East Asia? (Yes.) (ABC, 21 July)

Government spent $2.4bn over two years maintaining Nauru and Manus (GA, 26 May) (which includes $29m in visa fees paid to Nauru)

Refugees are Australia's most entrepreneurial migrants, says research: "Humanitarian migrants make twice as much money from their own businesses as people arriving on skilled and family visas, says statistics bureau." (GA, 4 September)

Victorian town gets $41m benefit from resettling Burmese Karen refugees (GA, 23 April)

13 facts about asylum seekers and refugees you should know (Australian Red Cross)

There's no legal queue. And three other facts Australians get wrong about asylum seekers (GA, 15 June)

The facts about 'boat people' – The government and media are lying (AIMN, 17 July 2014)

Asylum seekers fill jobs Australians refuse to do (SBS, 28 August 2014)

Australia's treatment of refugee and asylum seeker children: the views of Australian paediatricians (Medical Journal of Australia, 201(7) October 2014, pp 393-398.)