Manus Island Refugees, Ordered to Leave Camp, Fear for Their Safety
- 7 years ago
Manus Island Refugees, Ordered to Leave Camp, Fear for Their Safety
31, 2017
SYDNEY, Australia — Australia moved forward with plans to close its Manus Island detention center in Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, cutting off access to food, water
and electricity as more than 600 refugees and asylum seekers resisted relocation to a nearby city, where they said they would be attacked.
The latest attempt to shutter the Manus camp, which sits on a local naval base, has revived the controversy over Australia’s offshore detention policy, drawing condemnation from human rights groups
and intensifying a political conflict between Australia and its nearest neighbor, Papua New Guinea.
Papua New Guinea has said that resettling the migrants, all of whom are men, is the exclusive responsibility of Australia, and
that it would not force the detainees to settle on the island.
If we stay at the center we are at risk, and if we leave, we will be in danger." Tensions over the fate of the refugees on Manus have grown since the governments of Australia
and Papua New Guinea agreed in April to close the site by Oct. 31.
Elaine Pearson, the Australia director at Human Rights Watch, said
that even with the expected departures, many migrants would remain in Papua New Guinea for the foreseeable future.
As the camp was set to close, the migrants — some of whom have waited four years to be resettled — said
they were safer at the detention center than they would be in Lorengau, a city close by on the island.
31, 2017
SYDNEY, Australia — Australia moved forward with plans to close its Manus Island detention center in Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, cutting off access to food, water
and electricity as more than 600 refugees and asylum seekers resisted relocation to a nearby city, where they said they would be attacked.
The latest attempt to shutter the Manus camp, which sits on a local naval base, has revived the controversy over Australia’s offshore detention policy, drawing condemnation from human rights groups
and intensifying a political conflict between Australia and its nearest neighbor, Papua New Guinea.
Papua New Guinea has said that resettling the migrants, all of whom are men, is the exclusive responsibility of Australia, and
that it would not force the detainees to settle on the island.
If we stay at the center we are at risk, and if we leave, we will be in danger." Tensions over the fate of the refugees on Manus have grown since the governments of Australia
and Papua New Guinea agreed in April to close the site by Oct. 31.
Elaine Pearson, the Australia director at Human Rights Watch, said
that even with the expected departures, many migrants would remain in Papua New Guinea for the foreseeable future.
As the camp was set to close, the migrants — some of whom have waited four years to be resettled — said
they were safer at the detention center than they would be in Lorengau, a city close by on the island.