Nauru president floats returning NZYQ refugees to home countries, in interview Australia tried to suppress | Nauru

Nauru may want to repatriate refugees from the NZYQ cohort, Nauru’s president said in an interview that has been officially translated into English for the first time and which the Australian government has tried to keep secret.

In David Adeang’s interview it was incorrectly claimed that those sent to Nauru were not refugees, and it was said that Nauru might attempt to return them to their country of origin if possible.

Guardian Australia has confirmed that members of the NZYQ group have refugee protection claims recognized by Australia. Some of the men already transferred to Nauru are understood to be among the refugees.

The Guardian previously published a partial transcript; This was confirmed by the full, independent transcript read to Hansard by senators David Pocock and David Shoebridge late on Monday.

The Australian government has consistently resisted releasing a translation of the interview, including an order in federal court not to release the document.

Responding to a Senate order to publish the translation, foreign secretary Penny Wong wrote that its publication would be “damaging to Australia’s international relations… and to our overall standing in the Pacific.”

At least five members of the NZYQ group were forcibly taken to Nauru and are being held at a regional processing center on the Pacific island.

Australia is legally obliged to protect refugees under the refugee convention and cannot return them to their countries where they face “well-founded fear of persecution”.

Even if this return is made through a third country such as Nauru, it is against the law and is known as “chain return” in international law.

Nauru is also a party to the convention.

Adeang gave the interview in February, speaking to a government employee in Nauruan and explaining the new agreement Nauru had signed with Australia to accept members of the NZYQ cohort.

The deal will see Australia pay Nauru up to $2.5 billion over three decades.

Adeang said that those taken to Nauru by Australia will remain on the island for 30 years.

“Unless, of course, we, your government, find a way for them to move, for example, return to their homes,” he said.

“The problem now is that Australia cannot return them home; these people are what you would call stateless.

“Their homeland does not want them and they have no way to return home. And if over time we find a way to return them home then of course they will not reach 30 years, but the visa we gave them to start with is 30 years.”

The Guardian understands that none of the men sent to Nauru under the new deal have so far been stateless.

Adeang has repeatedly said—incorrectly—that members of the NZYQ cohort are not refugees.

“To clarify, these people are not refugees, they are ordinary people, but their background or background is that they have been in prison.

“They are free to move around Australia these days and although they are no longer under penalty, they are not in that place and cannot do so despite Australia preferring to send them home.”

The NZYQ group is a group of 354 non-citizens who were released from indefinite immigration detention in Australia following a high court ruling in late 2023.

Their visas had been revoked on “character grounds”, many as a result of criminal convictions. Many have completed their prison sentences but cannot return to their countries because they face persecution. Some have lived in Australia for decades and have partners and children who are Australian citizens.

Shoebridge said Senate Adeang’s claim that the NZYQ group were not refugees was “patently false”.

“Did the government tell them that? Did our government…did our government mislead the Nauruan government? Are they complying with what the Nauruan president said that these people are not refugees? Are none of them refugees?”

“And they are probably embarrassed that President Adeang has publicly stated that he wants these people to return from the country they came from. We know that they are generally fleeing persecution.”

Ogy Simic, head of advocacy at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, said on Monday night that the Australian government’s secrecy regarding its offshore program was “extremely concerning”.

He said secrecy and cover-up undermined public trust and abuse and corruption increased due to the offshore regime’s lack of transparency.

“The transcript reveals for the first time that Nauru plans to return people to their country of origin ‘if they find a way’, even though these are people Australia has not sent back to their country of origin because they are refugees. This means the Australian government has effectively outsourced the repatriation process, paying another country to do something Australia cannot legally do.”

He said the Adeang interview, which the government opposed to air, revealed a dangerous loophole.

“Australia claims to uphold international law while quietly paying for people to be endangered through third-party agreements.”

Sanmati Verma, legal director of the Human Rights Law Centre, said the government had tried to conceal “almost every detail” of its agreement with Nauru.

“We are now learning that the Nauruan government may not intend to live up to its end of this deplorable agreement.”

He said forced removals to Nauru must be stopped because the government cannot guarantee people’s safety.

“Our government is tearing people away from their lives, families and communities in Australia and deporting them to a place where they are clearly not welcome. Our government has known all along that it could send people to their deaths by denying them the medical care they need to survive or by sending them back to the countries they fled as refugees.”

The Guardian has sought comment from the home office.