The Nauru government says good progress has been made in working through a backlog of refugee applications for more than 800 asylum seekers in detention on the island.
According to The Australian, a government document released last week says the Nauru Refugee Status Determination Office has interviewed about 600 asylum seekers.
The news follows scathing reports by Amnesty International and the United Nations agency, the UNHCR, of the slow rate in processing protection claims on Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus Island, where another 1229 asylum seekers are being held.
It is understood refugee authorities on Nauru have only handed down one ruling since the processing centre was reopened in 2012 by then prime minister Julia Gillard.
According to a Nauru government bulletin, the Registrar and Review Tribunal member Stella Duburiya says 200 refugee claims have now progressed to the second phase of the approval process, which involves three rounds of interviews before a recommended ruling is made.
