Australian border authorities have picked up five Rwandan men categorised as “unauthorised maritime arrivals” on an island in the Torres Strait.
The Australian Border Force (ABF) found the five men on Saibai Island, four kilometres from the Papua New Guinea mainland in the strait off Cape York in Australia’s north-east.
The group are believed to be Rwandan citizens. It is unknown whether they have claimed asylum in Australia. They are now undergoing medical checks.
The arrivals come as the UK struggles to implement a policy of sending hundreds to thousands of asylum seekers to Rwanda to deter journeys to the UK, a policy likened to Australia’s controversial Pacific solution for asylum seekers.
Australia has a set of harsh border policies designed to deter dangerous boat journeys, including by people seeking asylum.
Non-citizens who arrive by sea without lawful permission to enter Australia are categorised as “unauthorised maritime arrivals” and are never allowed to settle in Australia even if they are determined to be owed protection under refugee conventions.
Instead, they can be sent to offshore detention on the Pacific nation of Nauru and indefinitely detained until they agree to return home or are resettled in third countries, as part of a program known as Operation Sovereign Borders.
Asked about the five unauthorised maritime arrivals, an ABF spokesperson told Guardian Australia: “The ABF does not comment on operational matters.”
“ABF has well established operational processes to manage irregular movements of people in the Torres Strait.”
PNG police commissioner David Manning told the ABC the men travelled to Papua New Guinea via Indonesia, using fake travel documents, before they attempted to cross into north Queensland.
Two PNG nationals are being questioned over their alleged involvement in trafficking the five men to Australia by boat.
“It’s an ongoing investigation,” commissioner Manning told the ABC.
Guardian Australia understands that movements in the Torres Strait are not considered part of Operation Sovereign Borders because they are dealt with instead by a protocol with the PNG government to return people to PNG.
In October Guardian Australia revealed a group of 11 asylum seekers were sent to Nauru, the first such transfer in nine years.
People smuggling ventures reached Western Australia in November and February, resulting in further transfers to Nauru and heightened political criticism by the Coalition opposition against the Labor government’s handling of borders.
According to the latest published statistics from September 2013 to February 2024, 1,121 people have been returned to their country of departure or their country of origin as part of Operation Sovereign Borders, to Indonesia, Sri Lanka or Vietnam.
This has included at least 238 people returned by controversial practices of taking back or turning back boats since Labor was elected in May 2022.
