Centre to be cleared of asylum seekers

PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Asylum seekers at Manus Island detention centre have said Papua New Guinea authorities appear to be preparing to clear the centre in the coming months.

Detainees in the centre said PNG immigration staff held meetings this week to announce people with negative refugee determinations would be housed in a different part of the complex.

The detainees said they have until April 6 to move, or they will be forced.

The men said they were also told refugee processing would stop at the end of March, and the appeals process by the end of June.

“The message was clear enough to all of us refugees, that they want to put more pressure on us to leave the centre although there is no safety in PNG and this resettlement seems forcible not optional,” one detainee said.

Men with negative refugee status determinations are being threatened with deportation unless they accept cash incentives to return to their country of origin.

The Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s figures recently showed there are 850 men in detention on Manus Island, 389 of whom had been found to be refugees.

A further 59 refugees are being housed at a “transit centre” on the island, which is meant to prepare them for life in Papua New Guinea.

Many of the refugees in detention are refusing to move to the transit centre because they do not believe they will be safe from crime and persecution when they are resettled.

Refugees said they were told in the meetings they could no longer remain at the centre and would have to move to the transit centre “as soon as possible”.

A small number of men have left Manus Island for resettlement, taking up jobs in Lae and Port Moresby.

Some appear to be successfully settling into life in the PNG community, but at least two have already quit their jobs.

One was sleeping on the streets of Lae before being taken in by a church.

The Department of Immigration would not comment on the meetings on Manus Island, saying the centre was run by PNG authorities.

The PNG Immigration and Citizenship Service Authority is yet to respond to questions from the ABC. - ABC