On Manus Island, 60 refugees are being transferred to the Papua New Guinea capital, Port Moresby, for interviews with United States officials as part of the Australia–United States resettlement deal. None of those slated for interview originate from countries banned from the United States by President Trump’s executive order.
In Nauru, refugees seeking to benefit from the Australia–United States resettlement deal have been told that they must separate permanently from partners and children, according to The Guardian. As the United States prefers to accept single refugees rather than families for resettlement, a number of refugees are forced to choose between resettlement and being with their families.
The High Court of Australia heard arguments that fast-track procedures for asylum claims in country are incompatible with asylum seekers’ procedural fairness. The fast-track process, introduced in 2014, includes a review by the immigration assessment authority (IAA), instead of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
In Geneva, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination released it periodic report on Australia, criticising the ‘desperate and dangerous conditions’ in offshore centres producing ‘severe human rights violations’. The Committee further found that Australia exercises effective control over the centres in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, and is thus bound by international human rights law.
The United States withdrew from the compact on migration, a process which aims to improve ways of handling global flows of migrants. Citing national sovereignty, the Trump Administration withdrew from discussions on the Global Compact on Migration, to be held next week.