Human rights groups say the royal commission investigating institutional responses to child abuse has the power to examine allegations of abuse and neglect of asylum seekers on Nauru. Three groups, headed by the Human Rights Law Centre, today released legal advice backing their claim. The advice was given to the royal commission a year ago after it ruled it could not investigate events in another country. Marc Purcell from the Council for International Development urged the commission to accept the legal advice. The move follows the leaking of 2000 critical incident reports which detail abuse, self-harm and neglect claims by asylum seekers.

Source: Otago Daily Times August 11, 2016 21:56 UTC