Australia’s Immigration Department has established a Child Protection Panel to provide independent advice on child protection at the country’s asylum seeker detention centres — including the one on Nauru.
It says four Australian Federal Police officers will also travel to Nauru to advise local police.
Both developments are part of the government’s response to the damning findings of the Moss Review into allegations of sexual abuse inside the Nauru detention centre, which was released in March.
The review, conducted by former integrity commissioner Philip Moss, found evidence of rape, sexual assault of minors and guards trading marijuana for sexual favours from female detainees.
It also cleared Save the Children staff of claims they had coached detainees to embarrass the Abbott government.
The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, says the child protection panel consists of three highly skilled and independent individuals in the fields of law enforcement, child protection and public sector accountability — John Lawler, Margaret Allison and Dominic Downie.
He says two of the police officers being sent to Nauru have extensive experience in investigation sexual assault allegations and will provide Nauru police advice on how to manage such investigations.
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