Footage secretly filmed inside the now-closed detention centre on Manus Island shows the appalling conditions facing the men who remain there.
Filmed on Saturday night by GetUp!, the footage shows a facility that’s absolutely filthy thanks to its lack of running water, with blocked toilets, cockroaches everywhere, and men forced to sleep outside on tables to avoid the heat.
The camp’s walls bear a number of messages written by the men who live there, including “Why do you exploit our weakness?”, “Shame on you” and “Fuck my life”.
The men show GetUp! how they have used wheelie bins sunk into the ground to catch water that they can use for drinking, cooking and washing.
Secret footage smuggled out of the #Manus detention centre by @GetUp reveals the desperate situation inside https://t.co/kZEs0Q9IC5 pic.twitter.com/T7ppjLhYCk
— Guardian Australia (@GuardianAus) November 10, 2017
GetUp! says that it’s the first footage filmed inside the Manus detention centre without government supervision.
Food supplies, water and power to the centre were cut off nine days ago. About 600 men remain inside the facility, saying that they are refusing to leave out of fear for their safety.
More than 500 men are barricaded inside the #ManusIsland Detention Centre. Authorities have told them they must leave by 11am tomorrow. “The men are expecting violence from the PNG community… they have very little capacity to resist anything.” – @GetUp‘s Shen Narayanasamy.
— RN Breakfast (@RNBreakfast) November 9, 2017
GetUp! human rights co-directors Shen Narayanasamy and Matthew Phillips say they were smuggled into the centre by locals, who they say are “increasingly opposed to the Australian government’s treatment of the refugees“.
Narayanasamy told the media:
Death or serious illness is inevitable in coming days. These men are sick, thirsty and hungry. The conditions are appalling and it’s obvious you wouldn’t choose to stay here if you thought you could be safer elsewhere.
Matthew Phillips from @GetUp has just returned from Manus Island.
He has fears for the health and safety of the men remaining at the detention centre. pic.twitter.com/y8DWx0KsvL
— News Breakfast (@BreakfastNews) November 9, 2017
There is a great threat of violence from the PNG army and the Manus Island community has made it very clear it doesn’t want the men to move into accommodation closer to town.
The men face a slow death if they stay in the detention camp, btu outside they believe they will rapidly be in danger. It is a humanitarian emergency.
In the footage, one detainee explains that they wanted to send out video from the centre because “people don’t believe what we are doing.”
Hundreds of refugees are suffering through a “living hell” at #Manus detention centre, fearing violence and local opposition if they leave https://t.co/YgzKBRSYil #Justice4Refugees pic.twitter.com/9wyjWY4CKx
— Guardian Australia (@GuardianAus) November 10, 2017
Papua New Guinea officials ordered the men in the centre to evacuate on Thursday, and have begun to disassemble the walls of the facility. Christopher Pyne has said that the men remaining in the centre are “squatting”, and Peter Dutton has accused them of intentionally “trashing” the facilities. The UN continues to condemn Australia for not bringing the refugees and asylum seekers to safety immediately.
