--- description: An Australian senate committee report recommended the relocation of children and families from Nauru, citing allegations abuse title: Australian Senate Says Nauru 'Not Safe' for Asylum Seekers image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc466f4f0fa9dde9/698861d48e060169d1462268/rtr49r2n.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Australia](/tag/australia/) ## Australia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Abuses at Nauru Detention Center Prompts Australian Senate to Advise Moving Families ## Video: Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton - "Wealth of Opportunity" in Cambodia [Watch (HLS stream): Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton - "Wealth of Opportunity" in Cambodia](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Mluv1Ssx.m3u8) (3:45)  _Published 2015-04-23. In a video address to refugees on Nauru on Wednesday, Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said Cambodia offered a "wealth of opportunity" for resettlement._ by [Mark Rivett-Carnac](/author/mark-rivett-carnac/) ## Mark Rivett-Carnac Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 1, 2015 7:46 AM CUT  Protesters hold placards at the Stand up for Refugees rally held in central Sydney on Oct. 11, 2014 Protesters hold placards at the Stand up for Refugees rally held in central Sydney on Oct. 11, 2014David Gray—Reuters by [Mark Rivett-Carnac](/author/mark-rivett-carnac/) ## Mark Rivett-Carnac Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 1, 2015 7:46 AM CUT Asylum seekers who were transferred to a processing center on the tiny Pacific island of Nauru after arriving in Australia as refugees may be moved again because of endemic sexual assault, rape and child abuse. An Australian Senate committee [report](http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary%5FBusiness/Committees/Senate/Regional%5Fprocessing%5FNauru/Regional%5Fprocessing%5FNauru/Final%5FReport "undefined") published Monday recommends the government relocate children and families from the island after finding conditions not “appropriate or safe” for detainees due to a raft of serious allegations. “The government should develop a plan,” the committee wrote in its latest report, “for the removal of children from the Nauru \[Regional Processing Center, or RPC\] as soon as possible, with their families where they have them.” It also wrote that the center should “move towards becoming a more open, lower security living arrangement,” and asked for continued legal review and additional reports by Dec. 31, 2016. Once home to a thriving phosphate mine, Nauru is now awash with refugee accommodation made from white vinyl marquees. More than 2,000 people have been transferred to the center since 2012 as Australia implemented a new harsh immigration policy based on three pillars: turning or towing back boats at sea; forcing asylum seekers to live in offshore detention facilities in Nauru and Papua New Guinea; and a blanket ban on “boat people” being resettled in Australia. Human-rights groups condemned the policy and serious allegations quickly emerged, including accounts of horrific abuses in the [_Forgotten Children_](https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/asylum-seekers-and-refugees/publications/forgotten-children-national-inquiry-children "undefined")report by the Australian Human Rights Commission in November 2014 and in the [_Moss Review_](http://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/reviews-and-inquiries/review-conditions-circumstances-nauru.pdf "undefined") in February 2015. In response to these allegations and the committee’s recommendations, dissenting Senators denied full responsibility for the detainees’ situation, [writing](http://www.aph.gov.au/~/media/Committees/nauru%5Fctte/Final%5FReport/report.pdf?la=en "undefined"), “Nauru owns and administers the Nauru Regional Processing Center, under Nauruan Law.” This position was supported by the Secretary of Australia’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection, Michael Pezzullo. “The government of Nauru operates the RPC, assess asylum claims and, where persons are found to be in need of protection, arranges settlement,” Pezzullo told a June 9 public [hearing](http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=COMMITTEES;id=committees%2Fcommsen%2Fcf736b90-95c1-47c2-8f8e-1562423baa0e%2F0005;query=Id%3A%22committees%2Fcommsen%2Fcf736b90-95c1-47c2-8f8e-1562423baa0e%2F0001%22 "undefined"). A previous resettlement plan that sought to move detainees from Nauru to Cambodia fell apart on Monday when Cambodian officials said they would no longer accept any [refugees](http://time.com/4016756/cambodia-australia-refugee-deal-nauru/ "undefined"). The Southeast Asian nation had agreed to receive unlimited number of the asylum seekers in exchange for $28.5 million in development aid from Australia. 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