UNHCR welcomes change in Nauru's detention policy

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees welcomes Nauru's decision to end the detention of asylum-seekers and to clear pending asylum claims promptly.

On Monday, the Government of Nauru announced that, effective immediately, its Regional Processing Centre hosting asylum-seekers would become an "open centre" 24 hours a day and that all asylum-seekers would be free to move around the island. The Government also committed to processing some 600 pending asylum applications in the next week, and to enhancing support for the local integration of refugees and asylum-seekers in the country

These moves are in line with UNHCR's global strategy to end the detention of asylum-seekers and refugees, which calls on States to pursue workable alternatives to detention.

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