Nauru may seek to return refugees from the NZYQ cohort to their home countries, the Nauruan president has said, in an interview officially translated into English for the first time, and which the Australian government sought to keep hidden.
David Adeang’s interview erroneously claimed those being sent to Nauru were not refugees and said Nauru may seek to return them to their countries of origin where possible.
Guardian Australia has confirmed members of the NZYQ group have had refugee protection claims recognised by Australia. It is understood some of the men already transferred to Nauru are among those who are refugees.
The Guardian has previously reported a partial transcript, which was corroborated by the full, independent transcript read into Hansard by senators David Pocock and David Shoebridge late on Monday.
The Australian government has consistently resisted disclosure of its translation of the interview, including winning a non-publication order over its document in the federal court.
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Responding to a Senate order to produce the translation, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, wrote that its publication would “prejudice Australia’s international relations … and our broader standing in the Pacific”.
At least five members of the NZYQ cohort have been forcibly removed to Nauru and are being held at a regional processing centre on the Pacific island.
Australian is legally obliged to protect refugees under the refugees convention, and cannot return them to their home country where they face a “well-founded fear of being persecuted”.
Even if that return is made through a third country – such as Nauru – it is unlawful, known in international law as “chain refoulement”.
Nauru is also a party to the convention.
Adeang granted the interview in February, speaking in Nauruan to a government staff member, 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 $2.5bn over three decades.
Adeang said those removed to Nauru by Australia would stay on the island for 30 years.
“Unless of course, we, your government, find a way for them to move around, for example; they get to go home,” he said.
“The problem now is, Australia cannot return them home, these people are what you would refer to as stateless.
“Their homelands do not want them and they do not have a way to go home. And if over time we find a way to return them home then of course they will not reach the 30 years, but the visa we are providing them to start is 30 years.”
The Guardian understands none of the men sent to Nauru under the new agreement so far are stateless.
Adeang repeatedly said – incorrectly – that members of the NZYQ cohort were not refugees.
“To clarify, these people are not refugees. They are regular people but their background or their history is that they have been to jail.
“These days, they are free to roam around Australia and while they are no longer under penalties but they are not of that place and despite Australia’s preference to send them home, they are unable to.”
The NZYQ cohort is a group of 354 non-citizens released from indefinite immigration detention in Australia after a high court ruling in late 2023.
Their visas had been cancelled on “character grounds”, most as a result of a criminal conviction. Most have completed a jail term but cannot be returned to their home countries because they face persecution there. Some have lived in Australia for decades and have Australian-citizen partners and children.
Shoebridge told the Senate Adeang’s claim that the NZYQ cohort were not refugees was “plainly wrong”.
“Did the government tell them that? Did … our government mislead the Nauruan government? Do they adhere to what the Nauruan president said about these people not being refugees? None of them refugees?
“And they’re probably also embarrassed by the fact that President Adeang has made it very clear he wants these people to return from the country they came from. We know that they have fled from persecution by and large.”
Ogy Simic, head of advocacy at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, said on Monday night the Australian government’s secrecy around its offshore program was “deeply alarming”.
He said the secrecy and cover-ups eroded public trust, and abuse and corruption thrived in the opacity of the offshore regime.
“The transcript reveals for the first time that Nauru plans to send people back to their countries of origin ‘if they find a way’, even though these are people Australia has not removed to their country of origin because they are refugees. This means the Australian government has effectively outsourced refoulement – paying another country to do what Australia legally cannot.”
He said the Adeang interview – the release of which was resisted by the government – exposed a dangerous loophole.
“Australia claims to be upholding international law while quietly paying for people to be returned to danger via third-party deals.”
The legal director of the Human Rights Law Centre, Sanmati Verma, said the government had tried to hide “nearly every detail” of its agreement with Nauru.
“Now we learn that the Nauruan government may not have any intention of holding up its end of this lamentable deal.”
She said the forced removals to Nauru must be stopped, because the government could not guarantee people’s safety.
“Our government is tearing people away from their lives, families and communities in Australia and exiling them to a place where they are clearly not welcome. Our government has known all along that it might be sending people to their deaths – through denial of the medical care they need to survive, or by forcing them back to the countries they fled as refugees.”
The Guardian has sought comment from the department of home affairs.
