In Cairns, 15 Vietnamese asylum seekers arrived by boat and were subsequently detained and transferred to Christmas Island, where they will have their asylum claims assessed. The group were likely Montagnards, a persecuted Christian minority.
In Nauru, The Guardian reported a crisis of ‘resignation syndrome’ among children, with at least 12 children transferred to Australia for urgent medical care this year. Meanwhile, in preparation for the Pacific Islands Forum, Nauruan authorities moved asylum seekers out of the detention centre and destroyed tents that have housed asylum seekers and refugees for the past five years.
In Indonesia, asylum seekers and refugees said boat turnbacks, not regional processing centres, prevented boat journeys from the country to Australia. Refugees in Indonesia face a long wait for resettlement in another country, if they are ever resettled at all. Australia has not resettled refugees from Indonesia since 2014.
In international news, the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar reported systemic gross human rights violations and abuses committed against the Rohingya by Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw. The Mission documented crimes against humanity and possible genocide, evidence of the ‘gravest crimes under international law’, with 900,000 Rohingya fleeing from Myanmar into Bangladesh in 2017.