Australia’s human rights commissioner ‘concerned’ by Nauru deportation secrecy

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By Kirsty Needham

SYDNEY (Reuters) -The first deportation of a person from Australia to the Pacific Island nation of Nauru under a billion-dollar deal to resettle non-citizens with criminal records raises “serious human rights concerns”, Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner said on Wednesday.

Australia last month agreed to pay Nauru A$2.5 billion ($1.6 billion) over three decades to host several hundred deported non-citizens.

The deal has revived criticism from human rights groups that Anthony Albanese’s centre-left government is “dumping” refugees in small island states and has drawn comparisons with U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

Under a decade-old policy to discourage people smuggling, Australia sends asylum seekers who arrive by boat to offshore detention centres to have refugee claims assessed, denying them Australian visas.

Nauru said its President David Adeang, re-elected in a national election this month, last week accepted A$388 million from Australia to receive the first “special cohort” on 30-year visas. The island, which has a population of 12,000 and a land area of just 21 square km (eight square miles), is reliant on foreign aid.

The first deportation there was shrouded in secrecy and “exposes a disturbing lack of transparency and raises serious human rights concerns,” Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay said in a statement.

“As the UN Human Rights Committee has made clear, outsourcing the management of asylum seekers and refugees does not absolve a State of its legal responsibilities,” she said.

The Australian Human Rights Commission is an independent body that scrutinises the country’s performance in meeting its international human rights commitments.

Nauru also received a separate A$20 million annual payment under the deal, of which $5.4 million will be used to operate the programme, and the rest spent on immediate budget priorities including public health and school lunches, Adeang said in a speech to parliament on Friday.

Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has not commented on how many people had been transferred to Nauru, but he previously told the ABC around 20 visas had been issued.

“When someone’s visa is cancelled they should leave,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.

Nauru’s internal affairs minister Tawaki Kam said last week that Nauru was committed to “humane, lawful” settlement of the migrants, and the funds would build Nauru’s economic resilience.

“These settled persons will enjoy freedom of movement, equal treatment, and access to essential services,” he said in a statement.

($1 = 1.5389 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)