Australia to Close Refugee Detention Center
Officials from Australia and Papua New Guinea announced (SMH)
their decision to close the Manus Island detention center, a facility
on Papua New Guinean territory where Australia detained asylum seekers
intercepted at sea. The facility has drawn criticism from human rights
groups for poor conditions, and in April the Papua New Guinea Supreme
Court found (BBC)
it unconstitutional. The fate of the more than eight hundred asylum
seekers being held there remains unclear as Australian officials say
that resettling any refugees who take to sea would encourage more dangerous attempts (Reuters) to reach Australia by boat.
ANALYSIS
"Some
1,200 people are currently detained in offshore 'regional processing
centers' on Manus and Nauru, thousands of miles from Australia,
according to immigration authorities. The camps have been widely
condemned and many have called for their closure. A 2015 Australian
Senate inquiry reported that the camps had poor hygiene and provided
little educational opportunities. It also documented instances of sexual assault," write Euan McKirdy, James Griffiths, and Pamela Boykoff for CNN.
"Efforts to resettle refugees in PNG have foundered.
Barely a handful have been resettled outside the centre and almost all
have been forced to return to detention after being assaulted, robbed,
and in one case, left homeless in other parts of the country," writes
Ben Doherty in the Guardian.
"The judgment was a long time coming, but the Australian government was shambolically unprepared for it.
What has been strong about the offshore policy is the government’s
unwavering commitment to it; but its legal, moral and logistical
substance has always been weak," argues Martin McKenzie-Murray in
Australia's Saturday Paper.
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