The Republic of Nauru Photo: AFP
Two decisions from the UN Human Rights Committee say Australia remained responsible for the detention of asylum seekers in Nauru.
The committee has published its decisions on two cases involving refugees and asylum seekers who have endured detention in the Regional Processing Centre in Nauru.
"A state party cannot escape its human rights responsibility when outsourcing asylum processing to another state," committee member Mahjoub El Haiba said.
"Where a state exercises effective control over an area, its obligations under international law remain firmly in place and cannot be transferred."
Detainees from both cases filed complaints to the Human Rights Committee, claiming Australia had violated its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), particularly Article 9 regarding arbitrary detention.
Australia opposed the allegations, stating there was no prima facie substantiation that the alleged violations in Nauru had occurred within Australia's jurisdiction.
But the committee felt otherwise.
"It was established that Australia had significant control and influence over the regional processing facility in Nauru, and thus, we consider that the asylum seekers in those cases were within the state party's jurisdiction under the ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights)," El Haiba said.
"These decisions send a clear message to all states: Where there is power or effective control, there is responsibility.
"Offshore detention facilities are not human-rights free zones for the state party, which remains bound by the provisions of the Covenant."
The first case involved 24 unaccompanied minors intercepted at sea.
The committee said they were first brought to Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, between 2013 and 2014 and placed in mandatory immigration detention for between two and 12 months.
They were then transferred to Nauru in 2014 and detained at the overcrowded Regional Processing Centre with insufficient water supply and sanitation, high temperatures and humidity, as well as inadequate healthcare.
Despite all but one of these minors being granted refugee status around September 2014, they remained detained in Nauru.
In the second case, an Iranian asylum seeker arrived by boat on Christmas Island with her husband, stepfather, stepsister, and male cousin without valid visas in August 2013.
She was recognised as a refugee by the authorities in Nauru in April 2017 but was not released immediately. She was transferred to mainland Australia in November 2018 for medical reasons but was still detained in various facilities.
RNZ Pacific has contacted Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs for comment.