Pacific / Nauru

Nauru refugee settlement programme queried

20:05 pm on 29 March 2016

Australia's Refugee Action Coalition is challenging Nauru's justice minister who has sung the praises of the country's refugee programme.

Protest on Nauru Photo: Refugee Action Coalition

Asylum seekers at the Australian run detention camps in Nauru are into a second week of protests over the delay in the processing of their applications for refugee status.

Some asylum seekers have been in the camps on Nauru for more than 1,000 days.

In October, the Nauru government announced it would finalise processing within a week.

Last week, the justice minister, David Adeang, told a conference in Bali that Nauru had developed a robust processing system, and painted a picture of contented refugees, going to school, learning Nauruan and mingling happily.

But the Coalition's Ian Rintoul said refugees they had spoken to said that was not the case.

"There is no resettlement arrangement, there's no future on Nauru, there's no education, there's no language, little housing, there's no jobs. There is no resettlement, even in formal terms."

Ian Rintoul said there was no future on Nauru for refugees.

Foreign media are still largely banned from Nauru.