Asylum seekers defy orders to leave
Australian centre in Papua New Guinea ready to shut doors
HUNDREDS of asylum-seekers were refusing to leave an Australian detention camp in Papua New Guinea that authorities closed yesterday, 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. The standoff is the latest development in a long-running and bitter dispute over Australia’s controversial off-shore detention policy.
Asylum seekers who try to reach the country by boat are sent to two remote Pacific processing centres – 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 abuses, as well as self-harm and mental health problems.
The Australian government agreed to close the Manus facility by the end of last month 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 centres on Manus. The present site is to be handed over to the PNG military. But many men locked themselves in the centre.
“Refugees adamant they won’t leave detention. They are afraid but refuse to leave,” one Manus detainee, an Iranian called Behrouz Boochani, tweeted yesterday. “The power will be cut after 5pm. The refugees know that it will be very hard to stay, but are saying we will stay in a peaceful way.” He added that detainees had locked the camp’s main gate to protect themselves.
Detainees told Fairfax Media earlier yesterday that locals had started to loot equipment from the camp as PNG authorities looked on.
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 yesterday.
Refugee advocates say the transition centres are not secure, leaving the detainees defenceless against a hostile host community.
Manus detainees have been given the options of making a life in PNG, moving to the Nauru camp, returning to their homeland, or going to a third country like Cambodia or the US. — AFP have