Three unaccompanied minor asylum seekers are being held on Nauru, immigration and border protection minister Scott Morrison confirmed on Friday.
The three children are being held in solid accommodation rather than tents and are not going to school, Guardian Australia has been told by sources with knowledge of their cases.
Guardian Australia understands the two girls and a boy were transferred by the current government in recent weeks. One of the girls is a Somalian and was transferred to Nauru as an adult after giving a false age to immigration officials on Christmas Island. The other girl is believed to be an Iranian who also gave a false age.
The boy is understood to be an Iranian who was transferred to Nauru with an adult family member who has subsequently abandoned their care duty, making the boy an unaccompanied minor. All three are teenagers.
The three unaccompanied minors are under the legal guardianship of the Nauruan justice minister, David Adeang. Guardian Australia has contacted the government of Nauru for more information about the three children and is awaiting a response.
The government has made clear it intends to move unaccompanied minors offshore to Nauru under its hardline “no exception” rule to offshore processing policy.
The three children are being held in regional processing centre one, which was partially destroyed during a riot on July 19. Reconstruction work is ongoing.
Save the Children recently issued job adverts for staff positions to work on Nauru with unaccompanied minors. Some of the adverts were to provide educational recreation programmes to children aged five to 12, although these age details have subsequently been removed from the description.
Department of immigration and border protection monthly statistics show there were 106 children held on Nauru as of 31 October.
A spokesman for the immigration and border protection minister said that "tailored education services" were provided to all school-aged asylum seeker children on Nauru and added that 20 children were taking part in a pilot programme of attendance at the Nauru college.
"It is anticipated that this pilot will be extended and expanded in the new year." The spokesman did not say whether the three unaccompanied minors were part of this programme.
"It is anticipated that this pilot will be extended and expanded in the new year." The spokesman did not say whether the three unaccompanied minors were part of this programme.
Sophie Peer, a spokeswoman for the refugee advocacy group Chilout, which campaigns to have children removed from immigration detention, said there was no part of the detention setting on Nauru that was suitable for unaccompanied minors.
"We understand that only very limited education is being provided and this is inside the detention facility," she said.
"There have been no excursions or trips outside the facility for anyone for many months. We're still not clear on who is the guardian for these unaccompanied children and what resources, remit and qualificiations this person has."
