Disir
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- Sep 30, 2011
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Pacific leaders meet in Nauru to discuss regional challenges this week, with the host nation keen to deflect attention from its Canberra-funded migration detention camp dubbed "Australia's Guantanamo" by critics.
Official talks at the 18-nation Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) will centre on the threat climate change poses to island states and China's rising influence in the region.
But the presence of the detention centre looms large as the four-day meeting opens Monday, amid calls from rights groups such as Amnesty International to close a facility it calls "a stain on the region".
Pacific island leaders cannot ignore this issue any longer and need to ensure that it is at the very top of the forum's agenda," Amnesty said after releasing an open letter co-signed with 80 other non-governmental organisations.
The camp houses around 220 asylum-seekers, including more than a dozen children, who have tried to reach Australia by boat.
Under Canberra's hardline immigration policies, such people are processed in remote facilities on Nauru and Papua New Guinea to prevent them setting foot on the Australian mainland.
The UN Human Rights Commission says they face indefinite detention, labelling their treatment "harsh and cruel".
Pacific Islands Forum: 'Australia's Guantanamo' looms over summit
Ah, yes. Remember when Amnesty was worth a damn?
Official talks at the 18-nation Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) will centre on the threat climate change poses to island states and China's rising influence in the region.
But the presence of the detention centre looms large as the four-day meeting opens Monday, amid calls from rights groups such as Amnesty International to close a facility it calls "a stain on the region".
Pacific island leaders cannot ignore this issue any longer and need to ensure that it is at the very top of the forum's agenda," Amnesty said after releasing an open letter co-signed with 80 other non-governmental organisations.
The camp houses around 220 asylum-seekers, including more than a dozen children, who have tried to reach Australia by boat.
Under Canberra's hardline immigration policies, such people are processed in remote facilities on Nauru and Papua New Guinea to prevent them setting foot on the Australian mainland.
The UN Human Rights Commission says they face indefinite detention, labelling their treatment "harsh and cruel".
Pacific Islands Forum: 'Australia's Guantanamo' looms over summit
Ah, yes. Remember when Amnesty was worth a damn?
