The Government of Nauru denied Independent parliamentarian Andrew Wilkie a visa to visit the island nation. This follows the recent refusal of entry visas for three Danish MPs and for Senator Hanson-Young earlier in 2016. The Australian Government has stated that the issuing of visas is a matter for Nauruan Government.
Following a recent visit to Manus Island, the Human Rights Law Centre and Getup launched a new campaign to call for the Australian Government to bring asylum seekers from Manus Island to Australia. The campaign has published statements of several men held in detention on Manus Island, each of whom were interviewed during this recent visit.
In a joint statement, six leading humanitarian organisations criticised the Australian Government for the delays in resettling 12,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees, and advocated for the resettlement of this intake to be completed by March 2017. The Australian Government advised that 3532 people have been resettled and a further 3146 visas have been issued.
UNICEF reported that around 11 million children around the world are refugees and asylum seekers living outside their country of origin, and that this number has doubled in the 10 years from 2005 to 2015. Further, the number of unaccompanied minors applying for asylum tripled from 2014 to 2015.