Nauru police raid charity’s offices

• 13 October 2015
• From the section Asia

Police in Nauru have raided the offices of the charity Save the Children, removing staff members’ computers and mobile phones.

The raid, at the camp where Australia sends asylum seekers for processing, happened on Saturday.

It comes after charity workers were accused of leaking information to the media about conditions inside the camp.

The charity said it had “no reason whatsoever” to believe its staff on the island had acted inappropriately.

In a statement, it did not explicitly confirm the raid, but said staff were assisting police with inquiries.

There were no clear details on what prompted the police action, nor what offences workers were suspected of committing. The Nauru police force has not commented.

Australia’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection said it was not involved in the raids, though witnesses said Border Force officials were present.

Abuse allegations

Under tough and controversial policies, Australia intercepts all migrants trying to reach its territories by boat and takes them to offshore camps in Nauru and Papua New Guinea for processing and, ultimately, resettlement outside Australia.

The government says this is necessary to deter people-traffickers and prevent migrants dying at sea, but there is growing opposition to the policy from those who say it is a breach of Australia’s human rights obligations.

Successive reports have found evidence of abuse, sexual exploitation of women and children and poor conditions on Nauru.

Tensions have been growing between the Australian and Nauru governments and Save the Children, which has 60 staff on the island but recently lost the contract to provide services for children and families held there.

Last year, nine of its workers were deported after being accused of encouraging detainees to self-harm and lie about abuse – the workers were later cleared.

Save the Children vocally opposes the mandatory detention of asylum seekers, but says the services it provides on Nauru “mean children are less likely to suffer”.

A spokesperson said its staff in Nauru had “a history of behaving with great integrity, compassion and professionalism” and that their “priority remains working to mitigate the harmful impacts of offshore immigration detention, to the extent that the circumstances allow”.

“We continue to provide around the clock support to children and their families whose care has been entrusted to us. We will continue to do so until our contract expires at the end of October.”