Refugee Update: Nauru

Recent events have meant a lot of news coming out of Manus Island. More on that later, but I wanted to catch up on my Nauru bookmarks first. Under Nauruan law, peaceful protests are illegal, but refugees continue to protest despite beatings and jail time.

Nauru security guard charged, sacked after alleged attack on refugee (ABC, 5 August 2017)

Women of Nauru: seeing my sons in a school uniform is my only dream (GA, 17 February 2017)

Nauru blocks Australia's immigration department releasing data requested under FOI  (SMH, 15 February 2018) "Fairfax Media used freedom of information laws to request incident logs for the Manus Island and Nauru facilities between August 2015 and April 2016. However, after eight months, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection advised the records for Nauru had been blocked to protect 'international relations'."

Nauru refugee says medical treatment withheld after he had heart attack (GA, 21 December 2016) | Refugee on Nauru claims medical treatment for severe heart problems delayed without reason (ABC, 21 December 2016). More life-threatening bureaucratic bungling. I wish I could find more recent news on this refugee.

‘Cutting it fine’: Questions raised over future of Nauru detention contracts (SBS, 12 April 2017) Another thing I'd like to find more news on - the current contracts run out at the end of October.

Refugee Update

So many bookmarks...

The Refugee Council of Australia has advice on How you can help people who’ve been to Nauru or Manus (#letthemstay), who have been abruptly denied the welfare they are entitled to. You can also donate to Sydney's House of Welcome.

Government to relax secrecy rules for detention centre workers in 'humiliating backdown' (ABC, 14 August 2017) Whistleblowers will no longer risk two years' jail if they talk out loud about abuse and neglect.

Federal Government broke promises over refugee resettlement deal with US, UNHCR says (ABC, 24 July 2017) | UN says immigration officials helped screen Manus and Nauru refugees for family reunions (SMH, 26 June 2017). "The agency said it only agreed to help administer the deal between Canberra and Washington to resettle refugees from Nauru and Manus Island in the United States on this understanding so that families were not separated."

ACT offers to resettle refugees held in 'inhumane' offshore detention centres (GA, 24 August 2017)

Three pregnant refugees and nearly 50 others denied medical transfers from Nauru (GA, 21 August 2017) | Pregnant refugees refused abortions on Nauru must be brought to Australia, says AMA (GA, 23 August 2017)

Australia's offshore detention centres 'terrible', says architect of system (GA, 16 August 2017) "Paris Aristotle says ‘what has been put in place is not what was recommended’ and there is not a ‘skerrick of evidence’ it deters asylum seekers from boarding boats."

And the boats keep coming: Five people smuggled to Australia by boat, Australian Federal Police alleges (ABC, 27 August 2017) | Boat carrying alleged people smugglers and Chinese men landed on Queensland island (GA, 30 August 2017). It's not clear if the people on board, who have been returned to China, were seeking asylum (the guvmint says they weren't, which leaves us none the wiser).

Peter Dutton loses appeal over detention phones (SMH, 17 August 2017) "The federal government has lost an appeal over a court ruling that determined guards don't have the right to confiscate the mobile phones of people being held in immigration detention." | High court upholds Australia's right to send asylum seekers to Papua New Guinea (GA, 17 August 2017)

Unwelcome visitors: Challenges faced by people visiting immigration detention (Refugee Council of Australia report, 2 August 2017)

We're quick to label refugees as either 'good' or 'bad', but they're all entitled to protection (GA, 28 June 2017) "Despite what he told the court, he knew full well that hitting his wife was a serious crime (as it is in Syria)... The family wouldn’t have come without him, so do you deny them all asylum? How, exactly, would that have protected Raghda?"

A little heartening news: Samim Bigzad: UK Government's attempt to deport Afghan asylum seeker fails after pilot refuses to take off (The Independent, 29 August 2017). Activists had a quiet word with passengers, who had a quiet word with the cabin crew, who had a quiet word with the pilot. Thank you all. Unfortunately, Australian activists did not have the same success in the case of a sick Iraqi man deported last month.

Many of those seeking asylum in Australia are Rohingyas from Myanmar. After recent massacres, many more will try to engage Australia's human rights responsibilities. Elsewhere: Sri Lanka leads the world for torture, again (Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, 19 August 2017)

Australia has 'golden opportunity' to help shape world refugee debate, says report (GA, 31 August 2017) "... if there are large environmental issues, if there’s a war in Papua New Guinea, if Isis takes root in in the Philippines, there could suddenly be large numbers of people trying to come to Australia, and it should be in your interest to make sure that the international refugee regime responds more effectively."

Australia resettles Cuban refugees found clinging to lighthouse off Florida Keys (GA, 22 August 2017) Welcome!

'Benefits on both sides': Armidale revealed as new home for Iraqi and Syrian refugees (SBS, 11 August 2017)

The latest ABF bungle: Border Force illegally sent two Australian citizens to Christmas Island (GA, 5 July 2017). It'd be funny if they weren't playing with people's lives.

From the invaluable Snopes: Are Refugee Tuberculosis Rates in San Diego 'More Than 100 Times Greater' Than the National Average? SPOILER: no. Meanwhile, President Trump's "Muslim ban" has left refugees, including about 100 unaccompanied children, stranded. (The President's general hostility to migration is already damaging the US economy.)

When Hospitality Was the Norm and Multiculturalism Was a Good Thing (Yes!, 20 June 2017)