Refugees

Nauru, which is home to an Australian immigration detention centre, is hosting this year's leaders' summit, which will get under way on September 1.

Amnesty International has co-signed a joint open letter representing a coalition of 84 NGOs, which addresses Forum leaders and observers about conditions for refugees on Nauru, and also PNG's Manus Island.

Amnesty's Pacific researcher, Roshika Deo, said the system is clearly broken if children on Nauru are considering self-harm.

It comes as pressure is mounting on the Australian government to accept New Zealand's offer to take 150 refugees from Nauru and Manus Island.

An Iranian man detained on Nauru wrote to Jacinda Ardern earlier this month asking if he could meet with her when she visits Nauru.

He was told by her office that would not be possible as she will be focussed on the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders' meeting.

The court upheld decisions of the Supreme Court of Nauru, where the asylum seekers have been exiled since 2013.

A Pakistani man from Peshawar told the court he feared being persecuted by the Taliban if he returned to the Pakistan city.

The court found while there was a real possibility he would be harmed in Peshawar, he could move elsewhere in Pakistan.

Another Pakistani feared he would be harmed by a militant political party in Karachi because he had injured one of its senior members.

The court upheld decisions of the Supreme Court of Nauru, where the asylum seekers have been exiled since 2013.

A Pakistani man from Peshawar told the court he feared being persecuted by the Taliban if he returned to the Pakistan city.

The court found while there was a real possibility he would be harmed in Peshawar, he could move elsewhere in Pakistan.

Another Pakistani feared he would be harmed by a militant political party in Karachi because he had injured one of its senior members.

Ian Rintoul of the Refugee Action Coalition said 29 refugees left on Sunday comprising four families, eight children and several single men from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

This is the fifth group to have departed Nauru since the US resettlement began in September 2016.

Mr Rintoul said although Australian Border Force officials have denied that any nationalities are banned from US resettlement, it was remarkable that no Iranian, Somalis, or Sudanese have been accepted this year.

Almost all are single men and are Afghan, Pakistani or Rohingya.

In a statement, the Refugee Action Coalition says there is one Sri Lankan family (with four children) and one Bangladesh refugee.

“This will bring the total to 84 people who have flown from Nauru to the US since resettlement began last September,” says Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.

“At least one more flight of refugees to the US is expected by the end of February.

Detained by Australia, the group of 22 comprised a Rohingyan man, his wife and 20 single Rohingyan, Afghan and Pakistani men.

The refugee advocate Ian Rintoul said one of the Rohingyan men has family in Australia but was told if he did not go to the US he would stay on Nauru for 20 years.

The advocate said he expected a total of about 130 refugees to leave Nauru for America this month.

About 130 refugees from Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus Island have so far been resettled in the US which agreed to take up to 1250 from Australian offshore detention.

The Guardian reports that about 130 people from Nauru and 60 from Manus Island will be resettled in the new year.

However, a travel ban imposed by President Donald Trump will exclude certain nationalities, including Iranians and Somalis, from resettlement.

The largest cohort of refugees on Nauru and Manus Island is from Iran.

The group will be resettled under a deal signed between Australia and former president Barack Obama in 2016; 54 refugees have alread been resettled.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern promised the money last the month after restating the offer to resettle 150 refugees from Australian offshore detention.

Deputy secretary Jeff Langley from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said there are a number of different ways the money could be channelled including to the Red Cross and other NGOs operating on the island.

He said the ministry is also talking to the Papua New Guinea government to identify needs created by the refugee population on the island.

The Guardian reported that Iranian refugee Arash Shirmohamadi has been told he must relinquish custody of his Australia-born baby girl in order to apply for resettlement.

Both Mr Shirmohamadi's wife and his child, who he has never seen in person, are in detention in Brisbane.

Recordings of phone conversations and an email chain indicate the ABF was pressing for family separation for refugees who the US was lining up for resettlement.

US Immigration officials who were last week on Nauru told about 70 refugees they would be resettled in America.