GENEVA — A UN committee found that Australia violated a human rights treaty by detaining a group of asylum seekers, including minors, on the remote Pacific island of Nauru even after they were granted refugee status, it said in a statement on Thursday (Jan 9).

Under Australia's tough immigration policies, those attempting to reach the country by boat have been sent to detention centres — including on the South Pacific island nation of Nauru — for so-called "offshore processing" since 2013. Such facilities have previously drawn scrutiny from rights groups.

The UN Human Rights Committee, which monitors the legally-binding 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and was asked to consider a complaint by a group of refugees, found that Australia had violated two provisions of the treaty: one on arbitrary detention and one protecting the right to challenge their detention in court.

It asked Australia to provide compensation to the victims and to ensure similar violations do not recur.

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