Weekly media wrap - 1 February 2016

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) 2016 World Report was released this week. HRW reported that Australia’s failure to meet international standards for protecting asylum seekers is taking a ‘heavy human toll’ and damaging this country’s international reputation. The report also highlighted the secrecy around Australia’s immigration detention program.

Professor David Isaacs, a leading paediatrician, challenged Australia’s prime minister to prosecute him for speaking out under the Border Force Act about conditions in offshore detention centres. Professor Isaacs visited Nauru in December 2014.

The International Organization for Migration reported that more than 52,000 refugees and migrants crossed the eastern Mediterranean to reach Europe in January, more than 35 times the number of people who attempted the crossing in the same period in 2015.

The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei closed his exhibition in Copenhagen in protest to new Danish laws allowing authorities to seize assets and valuables from asylum seekers over a certain value and delays in family reunification. Meanwhile, Sweden has indicated an intention to expel up to 80,000 rejected asylum seekers who arrived in 2015.

Weekly media wrap - 27 January 2016

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said 72 children in mandatory detention on the mainland would be transferred to offshore detention.  A group of 930 academics wrote an open letter to the Australian government urging the immediate release of children from detention.

An investigation by Fairfax media revealed that the Maribyrnong Detention Centre in Melbourne has the highest rate of detainee restraint and use of force by staff. The Villawood detention centre recorded the second highest rate of use of force.

In Papua New Guinea, Manus Island residents met to discuss the lack of benefit arising from the island’s detention centre. A spokesperson stated that too little of the $420 million of Australian Government aid given to PNG for hosting the centre has flowed to the Manus Island community.

The Danish parliament passed laws that delay family reunification for three years for people fleeing indiscriminate violence, and allow police to seize assets of asylum seekers over a certain value. 

Weekly media wrap - 11 January 2016

Nauru police launched an investigation into claims that a six year-old refugee was sexually assaulted. The father of the alleged victim, an Iranian refugee, said that the alleged perpetrator remains on Nauru and has not been taken into custody.

Documents obtained under freedom of information laws revealed that the 23 year-old asylum seeker known as Abyan, who was transferred from Nauru to Australia for an abortion, had not ruled out terminating her pregnancy before being sent back to Nauru, still pregnant. Abyan was flown back to Australia several weeks after her return to Nauru and remains in detention in Brisbane where she is receiving medical treatment.

In Papua New Guinea, the managers of the Manus Island detention centre were accused of flying an employee who allegedly robbed a local bar out of PNG to avoid the country's justice system.

In Europe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that she wants to stem the flow of refugees into the European Union, while preserving freedom of movement. Mrs Merkel's statement comes as Sweden moved to drastically reduce its refugee intakes. Sweden has introduced a requirement that all arrivals from Denmark show photo ID. Meanwhile, Denmark has imposed ID checks on its southern border with Germany.

Turkish authorities found the bodies of 34 migrants on the Aegean coast after the migrants tried to cross to the Greek island of Lesbos.