Nauruan police this week charged one asylum seeker detained at the Nauru detention facility with indecent assault of a minor and arrested four others on drug charges. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection told the Courier Mail that they were aware of the relevant allegations, but deemed them to be matters for the Nauru Police Force.
Speaking at the Crawford Australian Leadership Forum this week, immigration department secretary Michael Pezzullo asserted the importance of ending the people smuggling trade. He called on other countries to increase their refugee intake to prevent people from ‘seek[ing] services of smugglers and traffickers’. Australia will increase its annual refugee intake from 12,000 to 18,750 in the 2018-2019 period.
According to UNCHR’s annual report, which was released this week, the global number of refugees fleeing their homes reached a record high of 65.6 million last year. South Sudan became the source of the fastest growing displacement crisis in the world.