The Commission has endeavoured to identify options for responding to flight by sea which are consistent with Australia’s international human rights obligations. In publishing this paper, the Commission is seeking to make a positive contribution to this difficult policy area. We have sought to provide the framework for an alternative policy response, rather than an...

The Turnbull Government is facing mounting calls for a Royal Commission into immigration detention on Nauru. It follows the mass leak of more than 2,000 incident reports detailing assaults, sexual abuse and self harm attempts—more than half of which involve children. The Immigration Department says many of the claims have never been proven and are...

Dealing with refugee flows requires sophisticated policies that reflect both domestic and international realities. These realities include Australia’s status as a sovereign nation that wishes to protect its borders, but also as a country operating in a highly globalised world. That world is experiencing situations of protracted armed conflict and large numbers of refugees. The...

Offshore processing (referred to by the Australian Government as “regional processing”) is the term used to describe the arrangements by which Australia sends people seeking asylum who arrive by boat to either Nauru or on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea (PNG), where their refugee claims are determined. Australia is the only country in the...

Wars and persecution have driven more people from their homes than at any time since UNHCR records began, according to this report.