No more detention for Nauru asylum seekers
The Government has confirmed that
the country's Regional Processing Centre that houses asylum seekers
will become an 'open centre' 24 hours per day, seven days per week
from today.
The Department of Justice and Border Control explained that this
meant that detention had ended, and all asylum seekers are now free
to move around the island at their will.
Justice Minister David Adeang said the nation had been working
towards this for a long time after already implementing a daytime
open centre program, and had been waiting on confirmation of
Australia's assistance in the transition.
Mr Adeang said the new arrangements are simply an expansion of the
existing open centre program, which has been in effect for 12 hours
per day.
"Nauruans should be proud that we have implemented a more
compassionate approach to looking after asylum seekers, while at
the same time ensured that refugees will be properly integrated
into our country," he said.
The minister revealed that the Australian Government would be
supporting Nauru with "safety, security and law enforcement",
including providing more Australian police assistance.
To facilitate the new arrangements and ensure that asylum seekers
are integrated into the community safely and cohesively, the
Government has significantly increased the number of Community
Liaison Officers (CLOs) from 135 to 320, which includes 30 refugees
as settlement CLOs.
The Government has also announced a commitment to process all
remaining refugee claims within the next week. Approximately 600
asylum seekers are still to be processed.
"The start of detention-free processing is a landmark day for
Nauru," Mr Adeang proclaimed.