If You Question the Conditions on Nauru, Your Visa Will Be Denied

Maybe we knew this already, but turns out it's pretty difficult to visit Nauru—once you've gone on the record saying the island's offshore detention centre may be in violation of human rights.

Two politicians found this out the hard way, when they were denied access to the detention centre as part of a planned delegation that consisted of six MPs from Danish parliament. The trip was ostensibly for research—Denmark's centre-right government has actually been considering adopting similar hardline immigration policies to Australia—but the two MPs who had their access to the island denied were from minority leftist parties who aren't big fans of offshore detention.

One of the prospective delegates, Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen from the socialist-green Enhedslisten party had told the Guardian before the trip that she was worried about conditions on Nauru. "For me the visit is an opportunity to ask critical questions about the model," she said.

Another, Jacob Mark from the Socialist People's Party, said it was "important for those of us who do not agree with the policy to see it with out own eyes."

Now the whole trip—which was organised by the Danish embassy in Canberra—has been cancelled. So nobody from Denmark gets to see what the conditions on Nauru are like. Although they probably can guess.

Even though their trip has been cancelled, it's likely that Denmark will continue to consider adopting the Australian offshore detention model. The European spokesperson for the anti-immigration Danish People's Party, Kenneth Kristensen Berth, told the ABC in February that he wanted to make Denmark "the least attractive in western Europe" for asylum seekers.

The DPP, who offer support to Denmark's minority government led by the conservative-liberal Venstre party, have suggested refugees could be sent to north-eastern Greenland, or to Tanzania in exchange for aid money. Nauru also receives aid money from the Australian government in exchange for hosting its detention centre.

Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has called for more access to Nauru for journalists and politicians. Her recent visa application to visit Nauru—she's pretty vocal about disliking offshore detention, by the way—was rejected.

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