Rights groups slam Australian plan to send criminals to Nauru

CANBERRA

Nauru President David Adeang, left, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese shake hands at Parliament House in Canberra, Dec. 9, 2024.

Rights groups on Monday denounced an Australian plan to send three violent foreign criminals, including a murderer, to live on the tiny Pacific nation of Nauru.

Canberra said it had paid an undisclosed sum to Nauru, population about 13,000, in return for it issuing 30-year visas to the trio, who lost their Australian visas due to criminal activity.

"There has to be consideration of the lawfulness of banishing people offshore when they've been living as part of our community," said Jane Favero, deputy chief executive of the Asylum Seeker Resource Center.

"It's a complete disregard of people's human rights."

"When somebody has come and treated Australia in a way that has shown appalling character their visas do get cancelled, and when their visas are cancelled they should leave," Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told reporters.

Authorities have not disclosed the identities, gender or nationalities of the trio, or said whether they had served sentences for their crimes.

Australia's government has been searching for a way to deal with migrants who have no other country to go to when their visas are cancelled.

The High Court ruled in 2023 that indefinite detention was "unlawful" if deportation was not an option, leading to the release of 220 people in that situation, including the three now destined for Nauru.

Burke said any decision to transfer others to the Pacific island would depend on the Nauru government.

Refugee Council of Australia head Paul Power said the government had a duty to ensure any solution was humane and ensured people's rights and dignity.

"History has shown us the deep mental and physical damage indefinite detention on Nauru has caused," he said.