Sydney - Nauru said on Monday it is opening the gates of the controversial Australian-run asylum seeker detention centre on the island.
In a surprise move the Nauru government also said it would process applications for refugee status of 600 inmates of the detention centre within a week, the Australian broadcaster ABC reported.
For the first time the detainees will be able to move freely around the small Pacific Island while they wait to see if any nation will accept them for permanent settlement.
Australia sent the asylum seekers to the island after they were intercepted trying to reach Australia by boat. Most came from Indonesia on fishing boats, but some sailed all the way from Sri Lanka.
The Australian government controversially declared that none of the asylum seekers it intercepted on the high seas will ever be allowed to settle in Australia, a policy being maintained by new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Nauru's Justice Minister David Adeang said the Australian government would provide extra police and health care support as part of “a more compassionate programme.”
The move comes after pressure on the new Turnbull administration from lawyers, health professionals, academics and refugee advocates in Australia and the United Nations to end the reportedly harsh conditions inside the Nauru detention centre.
It comes just days before the Australian High Court is due to hear a challenge to the legality of the offshore detention policy.
Female detainees have reportedly been raped outside the centre and men beaten up by Nauruans.
The conditions inside the camp, which lies in the extremely hot uninhabited centre of the island, have been condemned by health professionals.
DPA