Adeang’s praise of refugee processing rejected

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

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 1000 days.

In October last year, 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 had spoken and said that this 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.”

Rintoul said there is no future on Nauru for refugees.

Rintoul said asylum seekers protesting since early last week on Nauru are resolved to continue their action until they are determined to be refugees.

Their action is over the long time it is taking to process their applications.

“If you look at the time that the UNHCR takes in other places, we are not talking three years – those assessments can be made in Canada, the US, Britain and northern Europe in a matter of weeks in some cases. It’s unforgivable that people are held for so long,” he said.

- RNZI