Nauruan raped by asylum-seekers

Cath HART

NAURU: Six Sri Lankan asylum-seekers in immigration detention on Nauru have been charged with the rape and indecent assault of a 20-year Nauruan woman, in a case likely to reignite debate about the merits of the Coalition’s Pacific Solution.

On Tuesday, Nauruan police charged one Sri Lankan asylum-seeker with rape and five others with indecent assault, a spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews confirmed to The Australian.

The six allegedly assaulted the local woman on Monday afternoon while in the community under the “open centre arrangements” of Nauru’s immigration detention facility, run for the Australian Government by the International Organisation for Migration.

The accused men appeared before a magistrate in Nauru yesterday and were remanded in police custody until September 5, the spokeswoman said.

“The department was advised on the morning of August 28, 2007 that six Sri Lankan asylum-seekers had been taken in to custody by the Nauruan police force for the alleged sexual assault of a Nauruan woman,” she said.

Under the arrangement between Australia and Nauru, asylum-seekers held there are allowed free movement in the community from 8am to 7pm.

The spokeswoman refused to comment further on the alleged assault, saying the matter was before the court.

The Australian understands that the six men did not have legal representation when they appeared before the magistrate but that IOM will arrange legal representation ahead of their next court appearance.

It is believed the victim required hospital treatment.

There are 89 asylum-seekers on Nauru under the Howard Government’s so-called Pacific Solution: 82 Sri Lankans intercepted in February and seven Burmese Rohingyas intercepted last September.

Some of the Sri Lankans are being assisted by Australian lawyers, but it it understood the men accused of rape are not among them and have opted to pursue their protection claims without legal assistance.

The alleged attack is likely to reignite debate in Australia about the merits of processing asylum-seekers offshore, under the policy introduced in 2001 following the Tampa affair.

Labor has pledged to end offshore processing of asylum-seekers in places such as Nauru.

The Coalition, meanwhile, sees a strong stance on border protection as the key to its recent election successes and credits the Pacific Solution with a significant reduction in asylum-seekers attempting to enter Australia by boat.

The Australian