Peter Dutton, the immigration minister, says woman who had requested abortion after alleged rape will come back to Australia
Peter Dutton said woman known as Abyan will return to Australia for treatment. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
Abyan, the pregnant refugee who was brought to Australia for an abortion and then controversially flown back to Nauru, is to return to Australia for medical treatment.
The woman, originally from Somalia, alleges that she was raped on Nauru. She will return to Australia for medical advice on seeking an abortion, and also for mental health support, the Australian immigration minister, Peter Dutton, announced on Wednesday.
The 23-year old was brought to Australia for an abortion earlier this month, but was returned to Nauru less than a week later. She is nearly 15 weeks’ pregnant.
Dutton insisted earlier this month that she changed her mind, a claim he reiterated on Wednesday. Both the young woman and her Australian lawyers deny that claim.
Since returning to Nauru, the refugee has told the Australian newspaper that she still wants an abortion, but does not wish to return to Australia.
Dutton said that she has now changed her mind about returning to Australia.
“She will travel to Australia and will seek some expert assistance from medical staff in Australia, and that’s as it should be, and we’ve said all along we would do what was in the best interest of this particularly lady,” Dutton told Sky News on Wednesday.
“The medical experts have spoken with the lady, and she’s accepted the advice she should come to Australia, not only to speak to a doctor in terms of the termination, but also to seek mental health services.”
The immigration minister said that the discussions over bringing Abyan to Australia have been ongoing for a number of days, though he would not be drawn as to when she would leave Nauru.
“I don’t want this to be some sort of media spectacle,” he said. “It’s important that we respect her privacy.”
Labor leader Bill Shorten called for an assurance that the young woman’s best interests would be prioritised.
“This is a distressing and complex case and Abyan’s privacy must be respected. Labor is deeply concerned that the Liberal government has mismanaged this case and the impact that this has had on this young woman,” he said.
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young reiterated her call for better oversight of the offshore detention system. “By appointing an independent advocate, we can be confident that there will always be someone with Abyan who is acting in her best
interests,” she said.
“This young woman asked us for help in putting her life back together and we failed her,” she said.
The announcement comes shortly after the United Nations urged the government to find a “decent option” for Abyan (not her real name).
“Abyan is in a very fragile mental and physical condition and is deeply traumatised by her experiences since the day of the alleged rape,” Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN office of the high commissioner for human rights, said.
“She has refused to give information to the Nauru police about her attacker because she is understandably afraid of reprisals. She does not feel safe, given that her alleged attacker lives on Nauru, which is a very small island.”
Accessing an abortion on Nauru is highly restricted, requiring the consent of both the mother and the father before the procedure can be carried out. Papua New Guinea, where asylum seekers on Nauru are often sent for medical treatment, prohibits abortions after 14 weeks.
Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition, who has been in regular contact with Abyan, said news of her imminent move back to Australia was “welcome” but overdue.
“Peter Dutton and this government have put her through three weeks of unnecessary mental anguish. This decision should have been made at the end of August.”
Rintoul warned Abyan – who fled Somalia in 2007 and after her family was killed in a rocket attack – was deeply affected by the events of recent months, and her recovery from the trauma of her assault would be significantly longer than simply the termination procedure.
“The treatment of Abyan is emblematic of the treatment of refugee and asylum seekers in general on Nauru,” he said.
“The action that the government has taken now is because of significant public pressure that has shone a light on her situation. But the way they have treated Abyan is the way all asylum seekers and refugees in offshore processing are treated, and the government surrounds their actions with secrecy, a total lack of transparency and accountability, so the public cannot know.”