The UNHCR does not publish statistics regarding refugees originating from Nauru.
Nauru became a Detention Centre for Asian refugees under Australian government controls in 2001. Nauru has been an independent nation since 1968, after half a century of Australian/BPC phosphate mining depleted their island environment of 80 per cent of its livable surface. The population today of 9000 Nauruans, plus 2000 Asian refugees lives on the narrow rim around the island which has no natural resources, food or water, and has been deforested by mining. Every item of life support must be flown in. The rights of those refugees who are considered ‘diverted’ asylum seekers wishing to land in Australia are under scrutiny by several legal agencies, including the Salvation Army. Access to the island is difficult for them.
(Nancy J. Pollock)
For information about LGBTI issues in Nauru, see our page here.