n the media
In Nauru and PNG
Canstruct, the company that was contracted to run immigration detention operations in Nauru, is being investigated for fraud. Documents obtained under Freedom of Information revealed the then Immigration Minister, Scott Morrison, sought advice as to whether women offshored to Nauru could be prevented from travelling to Australia to access abortion. The men who remain in PNG reflected on their anguish at remaining in limbo 12 years after they were sent there.
In the community
Wesley LifeForce and STARTTS co-designed a multilingual suicide prevention training program tailored to people who have experienced persecution, displacement and trauma in recognition of their elevated risk of suicide. A Liberian rap artist, who came to Australia as a refugee, is mentoring young rural Queenslanders in the production of music videos to develop their filmmaking skills.
At the UNHCR
To mark World Refugee Day, the United Nations released a number of reports and updates. They reported that the number of people displaced by conflict or persecution is at the highest it has been for a decade and that around 2,5 million people await resettlement. They estimate more than 4 million people have now fled the ongoing conflict in Sudan. Following a significant decline in revenue this year, the UNHCR completed a review to reduce staffing by 30% and re-allocate resources towards the most urgent situations.
International
As one in three refugees are children, Al Jazeera published a fact-sheet on their demographics and their experience of vulnerability. Ukrainians who sought refuge in the UK report being refused protection on the basis that it is safe to return. Turkiye announced the opening of an UNRWA office in Ankara. The US State Department reallocated $250 million in funding that was to support refugees to fund voluntary deportations instead. A UNHCR report showed that Poland’s decision to allow Ukrainian refugees the right to work and start small businesses contributed to a 2.7% boost in Poland’s GDP.
In policy
The UN’s OPCAT Committee found that Australia’s detention of a person who arrived as a minor constituted arbitrary detention and demanded that his subsequent mental and physical harm receive adequate treatment and compensation. The Home Affairs Minister admitted that none of the people for whom last year’s preventative detention legislation was designed have met the risk threshold required to be detained. The Australian government agreed to pay the outstanding flight debts for all of the 99 refugees who were resettled to Canada. They were among the refugees who had been detained offshore and were denied the right to lodge refugee claims in Australia. They were ultimately resettled under a community sponsorship arrangement (Operation Not Forgotten) that was entirely funded by donations. The UNSW Kaldor Centre published their submission to the UN General Assembly’s examination of the now widespread practice of states outsourcing their migration responsibilities to others.
In research
A ten year survey of people with professional backgrounds, who came to Australia for humanitarian reasons, found persistent difficulties finding work in their field of expertise. The Statelessness and Citizenship Review journal opened an Expressions of Interest for contributions to the 2026 special edition on ‘Citizenship, statelessness and emerging technologies’.