UN ruling on Australia’s responsibility for people transferred to Nauru
UN ruling on Australia’s responsibility for people transferred to Nauru

The tiny Pacific Island nation of Nauru receives asylum-seekers transferred by Australia for offshore processing.
The UN Human Rights Committee has ruled that Australia retains responsibility for the arbitrary detention of asylum-seekers redirected or transferred to Nauru, consistent with UNHCR’s long-held position.
The Committee published two landmark decisions on 9 January 2025 involving 25 refugees and asylum-seekers who were transferred by Australia to the Regional Processing Centre in Nauru in 2014. Twenty-four of the individuals were unaccompanied minors at the time, and all were later recognized as refugees. They came from countries including Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
“A State party cannot escape its human rights responsibility when outsourcing asylum processing to another State,” said Committee member Mahjoub El Haiba. “Where a State exercises effective control over an area, its obligations under international law remain firmly in place and cannot be transferred,” he said.
UNHCR’s long-established position is that Australia retains responsibility for the people it transfers to Nauru (or elsewhere) under offshore processing or transfer arrangements, and for finding solutions to their plight.
“Internationally, Australia is a strong advocate for refugee protection with an important tradition of expanding options for vulnerable refugees through resettlement. Its efforts at externalization stand in contrast to this tradition,” said Ms Karen Gulick, Acting Representative for the UNHCR Multi-Country Office in Canberra.
“We hope that Australia will take the opportunity of the Human Rights Committee’s decisions to review its laws and domestic policies in line with its international responsibilities,” she said.
“UNHCR stands ready to work with the Government of Australia to help it uphold its international obligations under the ICCPR as well as the Refugee Convention.”
The UN Human Rights Committee is a body of 18 internationally recognized independent experts entrusted with monitoring implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Australia is a party.
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Further information:
- Media Release on Human Rights Committee Decision – Australia responsible for arbitrary detention of asylum seekers in offshore facilities
- The full Decisions of both cases:
- UNHCR Explainer on concept of ‘externalization’