The last refugee held on Nauru was evacuated to Australia after 10 years on Saturday, June 24, and The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) said the move is welcome and long overdue move for refugees, however, around 80 people are still held in Papua New Guinea and “need urgent evacuation”.
Since July 2013, 3,127 people who sought safety in Australia have been taken to offshore detention in Nauru and PNG. Since this date, people have been resettled in third countries, hundreds were returned to the countries they fled and others remain in Australia after being transferred for healthcare.
The ASRC said refugees still trapped in PNG have been separated from family and friends and denied their freedom and safety for a decade and that people in PNG need to be offered urgent evacuation to Australia to receive medical care and pursue permanent resettlement.
While there is no one currently held in a detention facility in Nauru the federal government will continue to maintain detention facilities in the country, spending $486 million this year according to the federal budget. The federal government also has an agreement with a for-profit prison company, MTC, to oversee the facilities on Nauru until September 2025 at a cost of $422 million.
The ASRC said at least 14 people subjected to offshore detention have died, many due to treatable illnesses.
Human rights activist and refugee previously held on Nauru Betelhem Tibebu said all her friends are “so happy this week”.
“We don’t have to lose any more friends, people don’t have to get sick, no trauma, and no fear. Nauru, it killed us mentally, for us Nauru is hell, where we lost our lives,” she said.
“For ten years we have been so scared. Every six months when we renew our visa we hear that we can be sent back to Nauru. I never sleep peacefully because I worry they will take us back at night, not just me but all of us. I want everyone to know this is a fear for us. I am happy no one is there now.
“They should not have left the person alone there on the island alone by himself, from thousands of refugees to one person, can you imagine? He is a hero. I swear, I am so happy everyone is released. That place should be closed, it is where so many young people lost their future. For 10 years that place for us was fear.”
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre advocacy director Jana Favero said over the past decade “our government stood by and witnessed abuse, assault, neglect, harm and suffering in offshore detention”.
“Men, women and children sought safety and protection, yet we banished them simply for the sake of politics. We are thankful that the Albanese Government has taken action and evacuated the last remaining refugees from Nauru. One chapter of misery is over,” she said.
“While we celebrate this day that politicians said would never happen, we will keep advocating until the same happens for refugees in PNG. The resilience, determination and action of refugees and the movement will continue for those in PNG. Whether people were sent to Nauru or PNG was arbitrary and those remaining in PNG must have the opportunity to be evacuated as those from Nauru. There is no difference in our moral duty to people who sought our help.”
