A NEW UNITED NATIONS REPORT has confirmed that under international law, Australia cannot avoid legal responsibility for the people it sends offshore by outsourcing its obligations to Nauru, private contractors or international organisations.
The report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants states that governments “cannot avoid responsibility by contracting out their obligations to other States, international organisations or private entities".
The finding goes to the heart of Australia’s offshore detention regime, which has relied for more than a decade on successive governments attempting to shift responsibility for people seeking asylum to Nauru.
People seeking asylum continue to be sent to Nauru under Australia’s offshore processing policy, where they are held without any clear pathway to safety, freedom or resettlement. The ASRC continues to support men currently trapped on Nauru who are experiencing serious harm, deprivation and deteriorating physical and mental health.
The UN report also raised concerns about the persistent lack of transparency surrounding offshore processing and other externalisation arrangements, warning that opaque agreements, limited oversight and the involvement of multiple actors can obscure responsibility and weaken accountability.
The Special Rapporteur noted that externalisation arrangements often rely on informal or non-public agreements that avoid parliamentary scrutiny and public debate, and warns that this lack of transparency increases the risk of human rights abuses and undermines democratic accountability.
The ASRC has long raised concerns about the secrecy surrounding Australia's offshore processing regime, including the lack of public information about contractual arrangements, decision-making processes and conditions experienced by people sent offshore.
The Special Rapporteur’s report also:
- Noted with concern the Australian Government’s expanded arrangements with Nauru for third country reception of people Australia deports;
- Identified Australia’s arrangements with Nauru as part of a concerning global trend towards migration externalisation;
- Raised concerns about the risk of family separation under Australia’s arrangements with Nauru; and
- Confirmed that these types of arrangements heighten the risk of human rights abuses, especially for the most vulnerable.
Following the release of the UN report, the Senate this week confirmed an extension to the reporting date for its inquiry into Australia’s offshore processing and resettlement arrangements. The inquiry report was originally due to be tabled on June 17, 2026 and will now be delivered on July 2, 2026.
People currently subjected to offshore processing, former detainees, medical experts, advocates and whistleblowers have provided submissions and evidence to the inquiry detailing the harms caused by Australia’s offshore detention regime and the ongoing conditions faced by people trapped on Nauru.
The ASRC urges the committee to make strong recommendations when the upcoming inquiry report is finally released, and to require meaningful transparency about the operation, cost and human impact of offshore detention. The report "must reflect the evidence provided in over 120 submissions, along with the testimony of whistleblowers and those who have experienced offshore detention, given the risks they have taken to get this information on the public record".
Jana Favero, Deputy CEO of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said, “This report confirms what we have long said, that Australia remains responsible for the harm caused by offshore detention and is yet again more condemnation of a cruel system. The Albanese Government cannot wash its hands of the people it has sent to Nauru by paying another government or private contractors to carry out its policies.
"While many of the atrocities occurred under the previous government, over the past four years the Albanese Government has continued to maintain the harmful practise of banishing people offshore with no oversight or transparency. They are responsible for every person they have sent and kept offshore," Ms Favero said.
"The UN has made it clear that States cannot contract out their human rights obligations. That is exactly what Australia has been doing through offshore processing for more than a decade and they know it. It is almost impossible to get any information as to what is happening offshore, what is the government trying to hide?
"Over the past decade, and continuing today, it is only through whistleblowers, advocates, lawyers and refugees that the harm and abuses offshore have been exposed. This UN report makes clear that transparency and accountability about offshore detention is not optional.”
www.asrc.org.au
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