Nauru

Another 35 Nauru refugees set to depart

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.

Aid from NZ/Aust key to success of PACER Plus – Kessie

RNZ reports he helped the island countries negotiate the deal and said it should bring significant benefits.

But Dr Kessie said a key is that New Zealand and Australia meet their commitments to allocate up to 20 per cent of their Pacific aid budgets to helping the island nations develop such things as the capacity to meet international bio-security requirements.

He said this would amount to $US300 million dollars annually being allocated.

First police training on VAW for executive Pacific officers

This is the first workshop for regional executive-level police officers facilitated by the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) and funded by the Australian Federal Police (AFP). It builds on four previous training sessions funded by the AFP with frontline police officers from across the Pacific to improve policies and responses to cases of violence against women.

WHO says dengue is spreading across the Pacific

Fiji has now confirmed 143 cases, Nauru has confirmed more than 50, and 13 have been confirmed in American Samoa.

That follows outbreaks in Solomon Islands which has had more than 10,000 dengue cases in the last seven months, and in Vanuatu which has had more than 1700 cases since November.

RNZ reports in New Caledonia three people have died and a health emergency has been declared as more than 1-thousand cases have been recorded since September.

     

Refugee resettlement deal between Australia, US 'not a people swap', Peter Dutton says

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull last year announced two deals between the US and Australia, with the latter resettling refugees from Costa Rica while the US took in refugees from Manus Island and Nauru.

Voting for Miss Pacific Islands pageant 2016 begins

The pageant week begins with a church service and over the course of the week will assess each contestants through various activities planned.

Contestants representing eight Pacific Islands - American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Samoa and Tonga have all gathered in Apia, Samoa.

Contestants and their teams started arriving in Samoa last week for the 30th anniversary of the Miss Pacific Islands.

Knight: Move refugees, asylum seekers out!

He has called on the Australian Government to return those allegedly involved in the rape of a local, for investigations.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over the weekend announced the one-off refugee resettlement deal between Australia and the US for people on Manus Island and Nauru to be moved to the United States.

Turnbull, alongside Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, over the weekend said the deal would only apply to those currently on Nauru and Manus Island. 

Turnbull, Dutton announce refugee resettlement deal with US

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull confirmed the agreement this morning, but did not provide any details on timeframes or the number of people involved.

Speaking in Canberra alongside Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, Turnbull said the deal would only apply to those currently on Nauru and Manus Island.

"There will be American officials from Homeland Security coming to Australia to begin the process in the next few days."

As of October 31, there were 872 people in the processing centre on Manus Island and 390 people in Nauru's centre.

Australian Senate considers asylum abuse claims

Australia has run the controversial camps on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and on Nauru for the past three years, amid heavily criticism from human rights groups, NGOs, medical organisations and former staff.

Australia flies a sixth refugee from Nauru to Cambodia

The Sydney Morning Herald reported the Syrian man who arrived last Sunday was being cared for by the International Organisation for Migration, which has received millions of dollars from Australia to care for refugees in Cambodia.

But only one of the five other refugees who agreed to take a one-way flight from Nauru since the deal was signed two years ago remains in Cambodia.