The Australian government is expected to move all remaining refugees and asylum seekers off Nauru by the end of the month, more than a decade after offshore processing restarted on the Pacific Island nation.
But Australia will retain an “enduring” capacity for offshore detention on the island indefinitely.
There are still about 82 asylum seekers held in Papua New Guinea, Abdel-Raouf said. They are not in detention, but live in impoverished and often dangerous circumstances and cannot leave the islands freely.