Papua New Guinean authorities and Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton have confirmed that the last of the 328 asylum seekers occupying the shuttered detention centre on Manus Island have been removed the site, three weeks after it was first decommissioned.
All the men previously refusing to leave the former Manus RPC have now departed the complex for alternative accommodation. The Government welcomes this development. READ: https://t.co/XGSOzTMEHI
— Peter Dutton (@PeterDutton_MP) November 24, 2017
The announcement comes after two days of police operations at the centre, during which uniformed officers were captured brandishing metal poles and appeared to beat cowering refugees.
Despite footage showing the forceful methods local authorities had used to remove the refugees from the site, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters the men are “complying with the lawful directions of the PNG authorities and moving to the alternative facilities available to them, and that’s as they should.”
Kon Karapanagiotidis, CEO of the Australian Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, cited a refugee who said the move only came after they were “beaten”.
The men are reporting that they have arrived at the Hillside Haus Detention Camp in their words “humiliated, beaten, tired, thirsty, hungry and sick.” #Manus
— Kon Karapanagiotidis (@Kon__K) November 24, 2017
He also shared images of injuries allegedly sustained during the operations.
This is what the Australian Federal Police on the orders of Peter #Dutton authorised to be done with PNG army & police yesterday. Who knows that they’re doing right now as they force men out by beating them & with the threat of violence and arrest. #Manus pic.twitter.com/AyHXSWPAZg
— Kon Karapanagiotidis (@Kon__K) November 23, 2017
Behrouz Boochani, an Iranian journalist detained on the island, said “the refugees are saying that they are leaving the prison camp because police are using violence and very angry.”
The United Nations Human Rights Commissioner (UNHCR) also expressed concern over the process.
UNHCR has been given assurances that excessive force has not been used, but cannot independently confirm, as staff have not been granted full access to the facility.
— UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency (@Refugees) November 23, 2017
The men have been transported by bus to the new accomodation centres near Lorengau.
Their removal from the detention centre comes after weeks of peaceful protests regarding the conditions at the three alternative accomodation sites, which detainees claim are unsafe and lacking in crucial amenities.
The UNHCR has also observed the woeful conditions of one of the alternative accomodation sites, and advocates are still deeply concerned about the accessibility of medical supplies to refugees.
Even though the men have left the centre, this isn’t over: they will continue to seek resettlement in Papua New Guinea or a third nation, but in shelter they say is even less safe than the already diabolical detention centre.
And it only took a few apparent beatings to make it happen.
