Closure Of Manus Island Detention Centre

With Australia’s infamous detention center on Manus Island due to shut down today, tension is brewing among Australia, Papua New Guinea (PNG), and refugee advocates. The Australian reports that the two governments face a critical stand-off on the island with 591 asylum seekers and refugees refusing to leave the regional processing center before it is taken over by the PNG military. PNG’s immigration minister issued a statement on Sunday highlighting that PNG had “no obligation” to deal with those not deemed refugees and those who refused resettlement in PNG. According to The Australian, the Manus Regional Processing Centre will be taken over by PNG’s Defence Forces and Australian Border Force said water and power there would be cut off. The Immigration Department is arranging for refugees to move to the East Lorengau Transit Centre, while others can go to separate lodgings.

Prior to its closure, the Manus Island detention center had long been criticized for its abysmal conditions. With camp managers and security staff waging a campaign to make Australia’s detention center for refugees and asylum seekers on Manus Island as inhospitable as possible in the past year, suicides and self-harm were a common sight. Documents revealed a plan drafted in early 2016, outlining moves to coerce those recognized as refugees into leaving the detention center and accepting resettlement in PNG, while pushing asylum seekers to abandon their protection claims and return home.

The closure of the detention center now leaves the fate of hundreds in limbo. In early October, The Guardian reported that Manus Island detainees are pleading the PNG government for transfer to “safe” nations. In a handwritten letter, addressed to Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and other members of the government, the detainees urge authorities to oppose Australia’s plans to resettle them in surrounding PNG communities. These Refugees, ejected from the detention center, are left at the mercy of Papua New Guineans who had reportedly unleashed violence on them previously in a 2014 riot and again just April this year. Fearing more violence, the open letter highlighted the plight of the refugees. Circulated to media by the Refugee Action Coalition, the letter reads “we have been held in your country against our wishes and have been denied our liberty and have been tortured in your country… please do not go along with (Australia’s) mistreatment of humans”.

These refugees, forced to flee their conflict-ridden homelands, are made to tolerate one inhumane treatment after another. After being detained in a detention center for years, and exposed to poor conditions and mental trauma, these refugees are now kicked to the curb with little protection and money. Australia’s refugee policy should be placed under the scrutiny of the international community, and international pressure should be applied to urge the Australian government to reverse their merciless policies. With existing refugee crises left unaddressed and the fastest-growing Rohingya Refugee Crisis storming headlines, the worldwide refugee crisis is a major problem confronting our world today. 

Lew Ching Yip

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