Australia claims asylum camp sex abuse is untrue

Australia has accused asylum seekers held in Pacific detention camps of falsely reporting sexual assault in order to get sent to Australia, a day after a newspaper published leaked documents detailing abuse at the Nauru immigration centre.

More than 2,000 incidents, including sexual abuse, assault, and attempted self-harm, were reported over two years at the Australian-funded Nauru detention centre, more than half involving children, Guardian Australia reported.

However, immigration minister Peter Dutton said asylum seekers were lying about sexual abuse and repeated comments he made earlier this year that refugee advocates were encouraging detainees to self-harm and set themselves on fire.