Aust tells asylum seekers to move for swap deal
AUSTRALIA: Asylum seekers at an Australian-run offshore detention centre in Papua New Guinea must move to a community facility to be eligible for a refugee swap deal with the United States, a notice posted at the camp says.
The directive, designed to help Australia empty and ultimately close the centre on Manus Island, presents asylum seekers with a difficult choice, as they must voluntarily exchange a secure facility for an area where critics say they are likely to face violence and inadequate medical care.
Several of the refugees said they would not move to the nearby town of Lorengau, where authorities want them to shift in preference to staying at the detention camp.
‘‘I’m not going to Lorengau,’’ said one asylum seeker, who refused to be named for fear of jeopardising his application for US resettlement. ‘‘Many refugees have been beaten, robbed and abused [there] in different ways.’’
Resettlement interviews held by US Homeland security officials will no longer be conducted at the detention centre, authorities said in their notice.
‘‘As Manus Refugee Processing Centre is closing, interviews at the RPC will cease,’’ Papua New Guinea immigration authorities said in the notice. ‘‘Interviews in other locations in PNG are being arranged and you will not need to return to Manus Island.’’
Parts of the facility will be closed as early as Sunday, the notice added, but did not specify when the locations would be changed.
Australian and PNG authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
It was reported this week that US Homeland security officials had begun ‘‘extreme vetting’’ interviews with some asylum seekers as the US begrudgingly honours a refugee swap deal with Australia that President Donald Trump called a ‘‘dumb deal’’.
Australia has pledged to take Central American refugees from a centre in Costa Rica as part of the deal. The swap is designed, in part, to help Australia close one of its offshore centres that is expensive to run and has been widely criticised by the United Nations over treatment of detainees.
It is unclear how many detainees will be resettled under the deal.
Australia’s hardline immigration policy requires asylum seekers intercepted at sea trying to reach Australia to be sent for processing to camps at Manus and on the South Pacific island of Nauru. They are told they will never be settled in Australia.
Asylum seekers are already allowed to travel to Lorengau during the day, but nearly all choose to remain in the detention centre, located on a Papua New Guinea naval base.
In contrast, while the Lorengau transit centre is easily accessible, it is not guarded by security officers. – Reuters