Australia vows to move asylum seekers by year’s end

Australia will move all asylumseeker children off the Pacific island of Nauru by the end of the year, officials said Thursday, but rights groups have called for the government to end the “in-limbo” status that accompanies them and their families.

Under a harsh policy meant to deter asylum-seekers from reaching Australia by boat, Canberra sends arrivals to remote Pacific camps on Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island for processing, barring them from ever resettling in Australia.

But the government has been “quietly” transferring children off Nauru, amid a public outcry and mounting concerns for their welfare.

“There are hardly any children in Nauru and [Papua] New Guinea and we expect that by the end of this year there will be none,” Australia’s high commissioner [ambassador] in London George Brandis told British talkback radio station LBC Thursday.

Hundreds of children have been moved from Nauru to Australia for treatment in the past few years, accompanied by their families.

They are scattered throughout the country under varying restrictions – some in onshore detention, some in the community with limited working and education rights – but none are allowed the opportunity to be settled.

“Once people have received their medical assistance, then the expectation is that they will return to their country of origin,” Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said Thursday when asked about children being moved to Australia.