Siege fears as Australia camp in PNG closes
Hundreds of asylum seekers were refusing to leave an Australian detention camp in Papua New Guinea that authorities closed Tuesday, citing fears for their safety, despite food, water and electricity being cut off.
Staff have abandoned the camp on Manus Island, and one resident said detainees had locked themselves in because they were terrified of what could happen to them outside its gates, AFP wrote.
The standoff is the latest development in a longrunning and bitter dispute over Australia’s controversial offshore detention policy.
Asylum seekers who try to reach the country by boat are sent to two remote Pacific processing centers — PNG’S Manus Island and Nauru.
They are barred from settling in Australia, even if they are ultimately found to have a legitimate case for asylum.
Canberra says the policy is designed to discourage people from attempting the risky journey by sea.
Human rights groups have been campaigning for years to have Manus shut down, amid reports of widespread abuse, self-harm and mental health problems.
The Australian government agreed to close the Manus facility by the end of October after the PNG Supreme Court ruled last year that holding people there was unconstitutional.
More than 600 men housed in the camp have been told to move to three transition centers on Manus. The present site is to be handed over to the PNG military.
But many men have locked themselves in the center.
Detainees told Fairfax Media earlier Tuesday that locals had started to loot equipment from the camp as PNG authorities looked on. Others told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation they were storing water in wheelie bins to sustain themselves.
Australia’s Immigration Minister Peter Dutton insisted the detainees were not welcome in Australia.
They have been told “there is safe and secure alternate accommodation where health and other services will be maintained,” he said.
“These people sought to subvert Australia’s laws by paying people smugglers to bring them illegally to Australia by boat — none will ever resettle here,” he said in a statement Tuesday.
Refugee advocates say the transition centers are not secure, leaving the detainees defenseless against a hostile host community.
“They are vulnerable to attacks from locals. We’ve seen so many victims and casualties already because of those kinds of attacks,” refugee advocate Ian Rintoul said.