Inquiry into Offshore Processing and Resettlement Arrangements
Our submission is rooted in our experience supporting individuals who have been subject to the offshore processing, and centres on the irreversible harm they have experienced and continue to fear as a result.
Every expert UN body that has reviewed Australia’s policy of offshore processing since 2012 has expressed concern for its violation of international law*. Indeed, in 2025 clients assisted by RACS in a complaint to the UN Human Rights Committee were found to have had their human rights breached by the Australian government by virtue of their detention under this regime of offshore processing**.
RACS is also deeply concerned at the recent third country reception arrangements entered by Australia with the Republic of Nauru. RACS has observed firsthand the tremendous suffering and trauma prompted by the real risk and reality of deportation to Nauru. We urge the Committee to closely consider the experiences of our clients shared in this submission and call for the termination of offshore processing and third country reception arrangements.
*Madeline Gleeson and Natasha Yacoub, ‘Cruel, costly, ineffective: the failure of offshore processing in Australia’ (Policy Brief 11, 12 August 2021)
**United Nations Human Rights Committee, Views adopted by the Committee under article 5(4) of the Optional Protocol, adopted 31 October, 2024, published 23 January 2025)
