21 Sep 2015

Bleak road ahead for refugee baby on Nauru

8:00 pm on 21 September 2015

A refugee group says a newly born baby on Nauru faces a bleak future.

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Photo: RNZ / Walter Zweifel

The Rohingya girl is the first baby born to a refugee on the island after her mother refused to be transported to Port Moresby for the birth.

The Refugee Action Coalition says the baby girl and her mother are both well but Canberra's refusal to fly her to Australia for the birth sets a risky precedent.

Previously expectant mothers in the camps on the island have given birth in Australia.

The Coalition's Ian Rintoul says the refugees on Nauru face a time time with no education, no resettlement and stifling conditions, often living in converted containers.

He says in this environment the problems of caring for a baby are magnified.