Australia violated rights of asylum seekers detained on Nauru, says UN watchdog | Human rights news

The verdict of the UN Human Rights Committee refers to cases involving 25 refugees who have been in arbitrary detention for years.

The Australian government has breached the human rights treaty by the detention of a group of asylum seekers, many of whom are minorson the remote Pacific island of Nauru, even after they were granted refugee status, the United Nations watchdog ruled.

The UN Human Rights Committee said Australia had breached two provisions of the legally binding 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – one on arbitrary detention and one protecting the right to challenge detention in court.

“A state party cannot avoid its responsibility for human rights when it leaves the processing of asylum claims to another state,” board member Mahjoub El Haiba said in a statement on Friday after Thursday’s ruling.

The verdict of the UN monitoring body refers to two cases involving 25 refugees and asylum seekers who have been arbitrary detention in Nauru.

A panel of 18 independent experts found that in both cases Australia violated the rights of refugees, including minors who did not have enough water and health care.

Refugees and asylum seekers from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar were intercepted while trying to reach Australia by boat in 2013, aged between 14 and 17.

Almost all of the juveniles there suffered deterioration in well-being, including weight loss, self-harm, kidney problems and insomnia while in custody, it said.

The committee called on Australia to ensure adequate compensation for refugees and to take steps to ensure similar violations do not occur again.

The committee has no power to force states to follow its decisions, but its decisions carry the weight of reputation.

The Australian government said it was considering the committee’s views and would respond “in due course”.

“It has been the consistent position of the Australian Government that Australia does not exercise effective control over regional processing centres,” a Home Affairs spokesman said.

“We welcome Nauru’s continued partnership in the effective delivery of regional processing arrangements.”

Office of Nauru President David Adeang did not respond to a request for comment.

Under Australia’s tough politics introduced in 2012, the government sent thousands of refugees trying to reach the country by boat to “offshore processing” centers.

They were held in two detention centers – one on Nauru and the other, which has since been closed, on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.

The UN committee rejected Australia’s argument that rights violations on Nauru did not fall under its jurisdiction.

A number of European countries are examining the possibility of similar arrangements for externalizing their migration policies.

Thursday’s decisions “send a clear message to all states: where there is power or effective control, there is responsibility,” El Haiba said.

“Renting operations does not absolve states of responsibility. Detention facilities in the sea are not zones without human rights.”