Possible transfer of 267 people from Australia to Nauru

Some 267 people who were brought from Nauru to Australia for medical treatment, including up to 80 children, are now at risk of being returned to the detention centre that houses around 500 people.

Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the prime minister would be authorising child abuse if the families were sent back to the “prison island” of Nauru.

Human rights agencies have called for the asylum seekers to be allowed to stay, with most focus on the 54 children and 37 Australian-born babies among them.

The detainees now fear they could be sent back to Nauru at any moment after the High Court ruled Australia’s offshore processing system was legal.

The doctors said no child detained on the mainland should be sent to Nauru under any circumstances.

The spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville, on Wednesday said the organization was very concerned about the situation of the 267 people at risk of being transferred from Australia to Nauru following the High Court’s decision delivered this morning in Canberra.

The movement is being led by the Anglican Dean of Brisbane, Dr Peter Catt, who has declared his St John’s Anglican Cathedral a place of sanctuary.

“This fundamentally goes against our faith, so our church community is compelled to act, despite the possibility of individual penalty against us”, Catt said.

“There were 1,200 people who drowned at sea, including women and children, the voices of whom have never been heard”, he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

He said it may be a breach of the convention against torture which covers cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment.

The pressure was ratcheted up on Thursday as several churches offered sanctuary to the asylum seekers.

“While we appreciate Australia’s efforts to upgrade medical facilities in Nauru, the country is still not equipped to respond to the needs of severely traumatized individuals, including children…”

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton reiterated in a statement that people who travel illegally by boat to Australia would either be intercepted and turned back or “sent to another country for processing”.

“I’ve said that we’ll provide medical attention as we have in the past to those children that are in need but I also think there is a lot of hype and scare in this campaign in relation to what’s happening on Nauru”.

Most of the asylum seekers affected by the judgment are Iranians, Sri Lankans, Syrians and Afghans and include more than 70 children.

Mr Dutton said the government was in discussions with a range of other countries but would not confirm Malaysia was among them.