A 17-year-old boy is among a group detained inside the regional processing centre on the remote pacific island of Nauru. He is one of 11 people who were taken there this month under the offshore processing system set up by Australia. It's the first group of people transferred to Nauru since 2014.
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TVTranscript
00:00 Well, we know that just under two months ago this particular group arrived, attempted to
00:07 arrive by boat to Australia and they were brought to the Narroo Processing Centre about
00:12 a month or two ago.
00:14 We're aware that there's about 11 people in this group.
00:17 One of them is a 17-year-old boy with their mother.
00:22 We're also aware that there's been at least one self-harm attempt that's been made by
00:27 a member of this group.
00:28 Now they're being held under very secretive conditions.
00:32 The government has, other than confirming the fact that these 11 people are held there,
00:37 there's been very little other information that's been able to get out.
00:40 In fact, they've been there for almost two months but it was only last week in Senate
00:44 estimates that it was even confirmed that they were there.
00:48 So little information, what exactly has the government had to say?
00:52 So the government has acknowledged that an arms-sickness vessel did attempt to arrive
00:58 and to enter Australian waters and we're aware that they were brought to the centre.
01:05 They're also being held at the processing centre, what's described as the reception
01:11 area, so they're not allowed to leave that part of the facility.
01:16 This is of course the processing centre that was effectively empty up until earlier today.
01:22 So it's significant that there's anyone on this centre for the first time and we're trying
01:25 to understand a bit more about them.
01:28 And Paul, what support are they receiving?
01:30 Well that's something that's really unclear as well.
01:33 It's unclear yet whether any of these individuals are intending or have made protection claims
01:38 or asylum claims.
01:42 There's a number of legal groups in Australia that provide support to asylum seekers who
01:47 have been held on Nauru and on Manus Island historically and none of them have actually
01:52 been able to make contact with any of the individuals with this group.
01:55 That's not to say someone else might not be providing them with some assistance, but at
01:59 the moment there's quite a bit of uncertainty about what exactly the nature of their claims,
02:03 if any, will be and some of those legal groups are calling on a bit more transparency around
02:09 them being there.
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