{"id":47,"date":"2024-05-04T20:13:11","date_gmt":"2024-05-04T20:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/haven.utsc.utoronto.ca\/?page_id=47"},"modified":"2026-04-13T22:10:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T22:10:37","slug":"nauru-files","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/haven.utsc.utoronto.ca\/index.php\/data-drops\/nauru-files\/","title":{"rendered":"NAURU FILES"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Nauru files contain the largest set of documents published from inside Australia&#8217;s immigration detention system. Leaked to The Guardian in 2016, they include nearly 2,000 incident reports from the Nauru detention centre, which were written by guards, caseworkers and teachers on the remote Pacific Island.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image banner-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"842\" src=\"https:\/\/haven.utsc.utoronto.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-08-at-11.35.26\u202fAM-1024x842.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-439\" style=\"width:712px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/haven.utsc.utoronto.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-08-at-11.35.26\u202fAM-1024x842.png 1024w, https:\/\/haven.utsc.utoronto.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-08-at-11.35.26\u202fAM-300x247.png 300w, https:\/\/haven.utsc.utoronto.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-08-at-11.35.26\u202fAM-768x631.png 768w, https:\/\/haven.utsc.utoronto.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-08-at-11.35.26\u202fAM.png 1499w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:13px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width-100 is-style-primary\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/borealisdata.ca\/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.5683\/SP3\/JWHSU9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">VIEW DATASET \u2192<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Summary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Examples of events include assaults, injuries, abuse and other forms of violence reported at the detention centre between 2013 and 2015. As noted by The Guardian, as well as academic research, Australia has privatised its immigration detention centres and exported detention of asylum seekers offshore to places such as Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. This strategy is part of a wider &#8220;Pacific Solution&#8221; implemented by the Government of Australia since the early 2000s as a hardline deterrent to &#8220;stop the boats&#8221;. Effectively, asylum seekers intercepted and detained on Nauru are removed from access to Australia&#8217;s asylum system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Data Structure<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These data are composed of incident reports. An incident report is a short summary of an event in the Nauru detention centre written by staff there. Some of the details found in the files may be triggering; we therefore advise caution with reading and analysing these data. According to The Guardian, these reports form part of the Government of Australia&#8217;s requirements to document what is happening within its detention system. Each report holds detailed information of the incident at the detention centre along with a &#8220;summary log&#8221;. Working with The Guardian, we have organised these data into two forms: a PDF of each incident report, sorted by name at the time of leak, and a CSV\/XLS of all incident reports, which structures key details into variables within its columns. Examples of variables include time, incident type, severity and description. Combined, these form a structured database linking each incident report to these variables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Data Source<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Guardian has modified the original, leaked data to remove any personally-identifying information within them. To achieve this, a stringent approach of redaction has been implemented to remove names of asylum seekers and staff, personal identification numbers of asylum seekers, signatures of detention staff, nationalities within small population groups and residential tent numbers, among other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are also a large number of acronyms used in these data. For your convenience, we have provided a TXT document with a listing of these acronyms and their meanings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you use these data, please cite the original source at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/news\/series\/nauru-files\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/news\/series\/nauru-files\">The Guardian<\/a>. \u2028<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons copy-to-clipboard is-content-justification-right is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-89b4c9e9 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\" id=\"copy-to-clipboard-nauru-1\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\">\u2397 Copy to Clipboard<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<script>\ndocument.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', () => {\n  document.getElementById('copy-to-clipboard-nauru-1').addEventListener('click', () => {\n    navigator.clipboard.writeText(`The Guardian. (10 August 2016). The Nauru Files: The lives of asylum seekers in detention detailed in a unique database. Retrieved from https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/ng-interactive\/2016\/aug\/10\/the-nauru-files-the-lives-of-asylum-seekers-in-detention-detailed-in-a-unique-database-interactive. Should you have any comments, questions or requested edits or extensions to the Nauru files, please contact Haven at [Haven email here].`);\n  })\n});\n<\/script>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column has-background is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"background-color:#8cd1ef33;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50)\">\n<p class=\"inconsolata wp-block-paragraph\">The Guardian. (10 August 2016). The Nauru Files: The lives of asylum seekers in detention detailed in a unique database. Retrieved from https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/ng-interactive\/2016\/aug\/10\/the-nauru-files-the-lives-of-asylum-seekers-in-detention-detailed-in-a-unique-database-interactive. Should you have any comments, questions or requested edits or extensions to the Nauru files, please contact Haven at [Haven email here].<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading heading-with-divider\">RELATED RESOURCES<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity thin-divider wp-container-content-9cfa9a5a\"\/>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-query resource-blog is-layout-flow wp-block-query-is-layout-flow\"><ul class=\"wp-block-post-template is-layout-flow wp-block-post-template-is-layout-flow\"><li class=\"wp-block-post post-786 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-podcast tag-nauru-files tag-podcast\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-post-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/haven.utsc.utoronto.ca\/index.php\/the-nauru-files-a-conversation-with-ben-doherty-2\/\" target=\"_self\" >The Nauru Files: A conversation with Ben Doherty<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2026-04-13T22:01:35+00:00\"><\/time><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt\">Alison Mountz speaks with journalist Ben Doherty about his work exposing Australia\u2019s offshore detention regime and the Nauru Files, a trove of leaked incident reports from Nauru.\u00a0 <\/p><\/div>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading heading-with-divider\">CONTRIBUTE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity thin-divider wp-container-content-9cfa9a5a\"\/>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:18px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column has-background is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"background-color:#83d1ef33;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50)\">\n<p class=\"inconsolata wp-block-paragraph\">Want to add to the work Haven does? <a href=\"https:\/\/haven.dhn.utoronto.ca\/share-your-data\/\">Here is how you can Share Your Data<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Nauru files contain the largest set of documents published from inside Australia&#8217;s immigration detention system. Leaked to The Guardian in 2016, they include nearly 2,000 incident reports from the Nauru detention centre, which were written by guards, caseworkers and teachers on the remote Pacific Island.&nbsp; Summary Examples of events include assaults, injuries, abuse and&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/haven.utsc.utoronto.ca\/index.php\/data-drops\/nauru-files\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">NAURU FILES<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":69,"parent":80,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-47","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/haven.utsc.utoronto.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/47","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/haven.utsc.utoronto.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/haven.utsc.utoronto.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haven.utsc.utoronto.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haven.utsc.utoronto.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/haven.utsc.utoronto.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/47\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":842,"href":"https:\/\/haven.utsc.utoronto.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/47\/revisions\/842"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haven.utsc.utoronto.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/80"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haven.utsc.utoronto.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/haven.utsc.utoronto.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}