Refugee issue will haunt the Pacific forum
News reporters arriving in Nauru for this week’s meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum have received some “guidance” from the host nation’s President, Baron Waqa. Addressing a pre-forum media briefing on Saturday, he called them, “gatekeepers (who) ultimately mould and conduct what is being published to the masses, ultimately shaping their views and opinions of the world, whether fact or gossip”, which would be fine were it not for the fact his Government had refused entry to the ABC for what it considered “blatant interference” in Nauru’s politics and disrespect to President Waqa.
Nauru has made it a condition of their visas that journalists report only on the forum. Its police yesterday briefly detained TVNZ correspondent Barbara Dreaver when they saw her interviewing one of Nauru’s would-be refugees to Australia. Their conditions of life on Nauru is a topic of more immediate concern than the forum to many people in this part of the world.
Their plight might not be raised at the forum were it not for the efforts of World Vision New Zealand which has urged our representatives to raise it. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been noncommittal. “I imagine this, amongst many other issues, are likely to be the subject of discussion,” she said.
Well, it probably will not be discussed unless she raises it. The Government of Nauru has made it clear it regards the issue as a matter for itself and Australia and it would be out of character for other members of the forum to risk offending the host. But President Waqa will have been advised that New Zealand’s Prime Minister is bound to be asked questions about it afterwards, and is therefore bound to raise the subject in their discussions if he does not.
World Vision is campaigning for the urgent removal of 119 children and their families from Nauru. It claims they are living in substandard conditions that violate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Australian courts have been told many of the children are suffering a reaction to prolonged hardship called resignation syndrome, becoming socially withdrawn, disinclined to eat or drink and unresponsive to pain.
The Nauru Government had not exactly denied this is happening, claiming refugee children are being manipulated into self-harm by their families, calling it “a disgusting and tragic political game”.
Ardern has responded to the World Vision campaign by restating New Zealand’s offer to Australia to take 150 of its offshore detainees, and she pointed out the offer applied to those on Nauru as well as Manos Island in Papua New Guinea. World Vision has urged her to make the offer directly to Nauru rather than Australia.
Australia’s new Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, is not attending the forum, which should make it easier for Ardern to ask questions of the host. Whether she does or not, the issue will haunt the forum. The island is tiny, the refugees must be conspicuous and they have sympathetic ears there today. They could ensure we are better informed.