Australia’s Refugee Detention Center on Manus Island to Close

Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton says his country plans to relocate the detained asylum-seekers elsewhere in Papua New Guinea or else send them back to their countries of origin, the AP reports.

There are series of options that the both government undertook so that the process is not rushed but carried out carefully.

Progress is being made between the PNG and Australian Government to close down the Manus Regional Processing Center.

Canberra has been under pressure to shut the Australian-funded Manus facility, which as at June 30 held 854 men, following a PNG Supreme Court ruling declaring that holding people there was unconstitutional and illegal.

He did not say what would become of the 854 men now housed there but said options were being discussed.

Peter Dutton, Australia’s immigration minister, said his government would continue to work with Papua New Guinea (PNG) to stop people smuggling after two years without a boat reaching Australia.

The harsh conditions and reports of systemic child abuse at the camps have drawn wide criticism at home and overseas.

“The result is arbitrary detention, prohibited by customary global law and by treaties to which both Australia and Papua New Guinea are party”.

The office of Mr Dutton is yet to confirm the claim.

It is unclear what is to happen to the men already on the island when the detention centre closes.

Dutton’s statement confirms Australia will now bear some of the costs involved in resettlement.

The announcement came after a newspaper published leaked documents detailing more than 2,000 incidents of sexual abuse, assault and attempted self-harm.

The Australian government has maintained that no person held on Manus or Nauru will ever be resettled in Australia, arguing it would restart boat journeys of asylum seekers seeking protection in Australia.

“We would certainly accommodate a number of them [asylum seekers] in Western Australia and we’d certainly support them as a state government”, he told ABC TV.

“I don’t have anything to lose. we suffer enough, really really, these two years, they’ve been very awful for me”, he said.

A center for asylum-seekers is closing, and Australia said it won’t take in any of the hundreds of them who need a new home. “Finally, it is time to let them move on with their lives in safety and dignity”. Barely a handful have been resettled outside the centre and nearly all have been forced to return to detention after being assaulted, robbed, and in one case, left homeless in other parts of the country.