Timeline Nauru
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A Pacific island republic of about 8 square miles
near the equator and west of the Gilbert Islands. The population in
2003 was about 12,000.
   (WUD, 1994, p.953)(WSJ, 5/16/03, p.A4)
1000BCÂ Â Â Nauru was first
inhabited about this time, originally by 12 Polynesian and
Micronesian tribes. Its nearest neighbor, Kiribati, is 300km of
empty ocean away.
   (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Nauru)
1968Â Â Â Â Â Â Nauru gained independence
from Britain.
   (SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1971Â Â Â Â Â Â Australia joined with New
Zealand and 14 independent of self-governing island nations to form
the South Pacific Forum. The name was changed in 2000 to Pacific
Islands Forum. Member states include: Australia, the Cook Islands,
the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall
Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa,
the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Since 2006,
associate members territories are New Caledonia and French
Polynesia. In 2011 Guam, the Northern Marianas and American Samoa
became associate members.
   (Econ, 10/20/07,
p.61)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Islands_Forum)(Econ.,
2/13/21, p.41)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 15, Nauru registered
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. There remained 3 years worth of
phosphate to be mined on the island which grappled with 3 major
crises: rising water from world-wide global warming, a 3rd year of
draught, and a $100 million investment fund that was put into the
Asian real-estate market.
   (WSJ, 11/16/98, p.B7C)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Transpacific Development
signed an exclusive "confidential agreement" with Nauru to establish
an investment program for foreign investors to become investors in
the economy and citizens of the Republic of Nauru.
   (WSJ, 5/16/03, p.A4)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 31, Ministers of New
Zealand and Nauru announced that they would take the Afghanistan
asylum seekers stranded in Australian waters.
   (SFC, 9/1/01, p.A6)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â US Sec. of State Colin
Powell sent a letter to Nauru condemning the sale of passports.
   (WSJ, 5/16/03, p.A4)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 9, Nauru's
Pres. Bernard Dowiyogo (57), known as a pragmatic leader of the
environmentally devastated South Pacific island, died in Washington
DC. He signed an executive order as he lay dying, at the behest of
US officials, ending the Nauru offshore banking system and its
economic-citizenship program.
   (AP, 3/10/03)(WSJ, 5/16/03, p.A4)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 8, Nauru’s foreign
minister said Australia's plans to close a much-criticized detention
center for asylum seekers on Nauru will devastate its economy.
   (AFP, 1/8/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 8, Australia's widely
criticized "Pacific Solution" policy of holding asylum seekers on
remote islands ended when the last detainees flew out of Nauru to
live in Australia.
   (AFP, 2/8/08)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 15, The tiny Pacific
island of Nauru recognized the rebel Black Sea region of Abkhazia,
throwing its weight behind a Russian drive to win international
recognition for Georgia's breakaway territories.
   (Reuters, 12/15/09)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Nauru defaulted on
sovereign bonds issued on the Japanese stock market. Firebird, a New
York-based hedge fund that mainly specializes in investments in
overseas equities, sued Nauru in a Japanese court and obtained an
order against the nation for the equivalent of 16 million USD.
  Â
(www.hedgethink.com/market-view/nauru-defaults-wins-interim-victory/)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 13, Australia's PM
Gillard announced a sharp reversal in her government's policy on
asylum seekers, saying it will introduce legislation allowing their
deportation to the poor Pacific nations of Papua New Guinea and
Nauru to face lengthy stays in detention camps.
   (AFP, 8/13/12)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 3, Australia’s PM
Kevin Rudd and the President of Nauru, Baron Waqa, signed a
memorandum of understanding providing for asylum seekers arriving by
boat to be sent to Nauru where they can opt for resettlement after
their claims for refugee status are processed.
   (Reuters, 8/3/13)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 8, Nauru, the tiny
Pacific island that hosts a controversial Australian immigration
detention centre, was reported to be hiking visa costs for foreign
journalists by 40 times, fuelling concerns over secrecy surrounding
Australia's asylum seeker policy.
   (Reuters, 1/8/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 19, The Nauru
government deported Peter Law, its Australian resident magistrate,
and barred its Australian chief justice, Geoffrey Eames, from
re-entering the country.
   (Econ, 2/1/14, p.34)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 2, Australia officials
said some 157 asylum-seekers, thought to be mostly ethnic Tamils
from Sri Lanka and detained at sea for weeks, have been sent to the
island of Nauru after rejecting a return to India.
   (AFP, 8/2/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 26, Australia and
Cambodia signed an agreement for asylum-seekers, who are refused
residency in Australia and currently held in Nauru, to instead be
resettled to Cambodia criticized for its deteriorating human rights
record.
   (AP, 9/26/14)(Econ, 10/4/14, p.48)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 3, Australia’s
government said it will investigate sexual abuse claims at its
refugee detention center on Nauru, while removing 10 aid workers
from the South Pacific island following reports of coaching
detainees to commit self-harm protests.
   (Reuters, 10/3/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â The population of Nauru
was about 9,400 spread over 21 sq. km.
   (Econ, 2/1/14, p.34)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep, New Zealand suspended
its aid to Nauru’s judicial sector.
   (Econ, 9/12/15, p.39)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â May 6, A Papua New Guinea
court ruled that a pregnant African woman, who says she was raped at
an Australia detention center for asylum seekers on the tiny South
Pacific island of Nauru, cannot be forced to have an abortion in
Papua New Guinea because it is unsafe and illegal.
   (Reuters, 5/7/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 9, The Pacific island
of Nauru held elections, with international observers invited to
monitor the polls for the first time in more than a decade after
criticism over human rights in the world's smallest republic. 67
candidates vied for support from just under 8,000 registered voters
for the 19 seats in parliament.
   (Reuters, 7/9/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov, The Obama
administration agreed to accept up to 1,250 refugees held at Nauru,
who have been refused entry to Australia. Most of the refugees were
from Afghanistan, Iran and Sri Lanka.
   (SFC, 2/10/17, p.A2)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 9, An Australian
minister said US officials have stopped screening refugees on Nauru
for potential resettlement in the US, but will return for “extreme
vetting,” a process called for by Pres. Trump but not yet defined.
   (SFC, 2/10/17, p.A2)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 4, Nauru hosted the
Pacific Islands Forum, which is being attended this week by leaders
from 18 member nations and delegations from other countries
including the US and China.
   (AP, 9/4/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 8, It was reported
that Nauru has effectively kept journalists away by charging $5,750
to apply for media visas.
   (SFC, 9/8/18, p.A3)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 27, In Australia
protesters rallied in Sydney and Melbourne calling for an end to the
country's controversial South Pacific detention centers which house
refugees who try to reach Australia by boat. Particular focus was
directed toward the wellbeing of children on the tiny island nation
of Nauru. More than 1,400 people are being held on the
Australian-run detention centers on Nauru and Papua New Guinea, some
for years.
   (Reuters, 10/27/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 1, Australia said it
aims to remove all asylum seeker children from Nauru within two
months as concerns escalate about their deteriorating health after
languishing on the tiny Pacific atoll nation for up to five years.
   (AP, 11/1/18)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 3, Australia announced
that the last four child refugees held on the Pacific atoll of Nauru
will soon be sent to the United States, ending the banishment of
children under the government's harsh asylum-seeker policy.
   (AP, 2/3/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 15, The Pacific island
nation of Nauru posted a new rule not allowing doctors to remotely
recommend the medical transfer of asylum seekers to Australia. The
new rule could thwart an easing of Australia's hardline immigration
policy.
   (AP, 2/19/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 24, Nauru President
Baron Waqa was voted out of office in the tiny South Pacific island
nation after six years in power.
   (Reuters, 8/25/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 4, Australia's
conservative government repealed a contentious law that allowed ill
asylum-seekers languishing in Papua New Guinea and on Nauru to
travel to the country for medical treatment. More than 460 people
remain in limbo in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.
   (AP, 12/4/19)
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