Last child refugees on Nauru off to US

Australia announced yesterday that the last child refugees held on the Pacific atoll of Nauru will soon be sent to the United States, ending the banishment of children under the government’s harsh asylum-seeker policy.

The psychiatric and physical suffering of children has been the major criticism of the government’s policy since 2013 to send asylum seekers who attempt to reach Australia by boat to an immigration camp on Nauru or men-only facilities on Papua New Guinea.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the last four asylumseeker children on Nauru would soon be resettled with their families in the United States under a deal struck in the final months of President Barack Obama’s administration.

‘‘Every asylum seeker child has now been removed from Nauru or has had their claim processed and has a clear path off the island,’’ Morrison said in a statement.

The United States agreed in 2016 to accept up to 1250 refugees. More than 1,000 others remain on the islands and face uncertain futures.

Law firm Maurice Blackburn said it would continue its legal fight until all asylum seekers were removed from the island camps.

‘‘This action has taken far too long and at times has been very hard fought – in the last year alone we have had to take court action repeatedly to help secure the medical evacuation of 26 critically ill people on Nauru with many of these children, including some as young as six months old,’’ lawyer Jennifer Kanis said in a statement.

‘‘In many of those cases, the delay in access to medical treatment has risked serious and lifethreatening consequences for the children and adults concerned,’’ she added.

In 2017, the Australian government reached a settlement of around A$90 million (NZ$94m) with more than 1900 asylum seekers who sued over their treatment at an immigration camp in Papua New Guinea. –AP