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Nauru’s foreign minister says he appreciates the advice of Amnesty International inspectors who described conditions at the island’s processing centre as appalling, and says he will move quickly to make changes.
Inspectors from Amnesty International made the remarks after visiting the Australian detention centre at Nauru.
Dr Keke has told PM construction will soon start on permanent accommodation, but he will see to improvements in the meantime.
“Some of the things are simple and relate to communication, information being provided to asylum seekers,” he said.
“As well as some of the simple things, the number of toilets and showers, the lack of shade in some areas, the inadequate number of computers for communication – and those kinds of things which I think can be addressed relatively quickly.”
The foreign minister said he was not happy with detention facilities on the island, but local problems are to blame for the delay.
Mr Keke said negotiations over compensation to land owners were dragging on.
“The current facilities that are available are certainly not what either the Nauru government or the Australian Government wants and is finding acceptable as a permanent solution,” he said.
“Unfortunately, and quite frustratingly for myself and the Nauru government, there’s been delays caused largely through negotiations on revised terms of the land lease for the land that the site is on.”
He also said he expected the detention facility to be fully opened during daylight hours from next week, but could not give a timetable on the start of asylum processing.
“We’ve got the legislation in place, but more importantly we’ve got the issue of human resources and the physical resources to be put in place,” he said.
“Cabinet’s expecting a paper from our justice department seeking approval for the additional resources and that would enable them to then fill in the positions, bring in expertise and personnel, as well as the tools for those people to do the job.
“Whilst that is being undertaken, we’re looking at commencing some of the initial phases of the assessment for further information gathering as soon as possible, and that could be as early as next week.”
Dr Keke says the Australian Government will also pay to ensure there are enough lawyers on the island to cope with the workload generated by the asylum seekers.
“There will be finances provided through naval engagement of external legal advice and advocates for supporting the asylum seekers in terms of their asylum claim.
“I would expect it to be primarily from Australia, but it’s not intended to be exclusively from Australia.
“Australia has made a commitment to provide the financial resources for that.”
Topics: refugees, immigration, foreign-affairs, government-and-politics, federal-government, nauru, australia
Nauru minister not happy with asylum facilities
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