January 22-2016
Police on the tiny Pacific is land nation of Nauru are investigating an alleged assault on an Iranian child refugee by an adult refugee, the Nauru government said last Thursday.
Nauru is home to an Australian refugee detention center, which hosts 543 asylum seekers and has been widely criticized for harsh conditions and reports of systemic child abuse. The largest bloc of refugees on the island are Iranians seeking to enter Australia illegally.
The Guardian newspaper reported an Iranian man had caught another man in the act of sexually assaulting his six-year-old daughter December 29.
The accused man had pulled his and the girl’s trousers down, and abused her near the cafe where her father worked, The Guardian reported, adding that the attacker had not yet been arrested or charged.
The Nauru Police Force (NPF) is investigating the alleged assault, the government said on its Twitter account.
“NPF will not discuss details of alleged child assault investigation, but confirm alleged victim and alleged accused both from refugee community,” the government said. “Child assault allegation involves accusation against a refugee by another refugee,” it added.
Several rights groups have criticized the conditions at the Nauru detention center.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in 2013 that the center was “inappropriate for the care and support of child asylum seekers.”
Asylum seekers intercepted trying to reach Australia on rickety boats are all sent to camps on Nauru or on Manus island in Papua New Guinea.
Nauru, located just south of the equator, is the smallest independent country in the world with a population of 10,000 and an area of 21 square kilometers (8 square miles). That is less than one-eight the size of Washington, DC.
In early October, Nauru unexpectedly opened the gates of its detention center, allowing asylum seekers to move freely around the island, and said it would immediately process all asylum applications.