Refugees and asylum seekers on Manus Island were notified that all services – including food, sanitation and water – would be cut off after 31 October when the Manus Island detention centre closes. Papua New Guinea Immigration and Citizenship Service has found alternative accommodation in Manus Province for the detainees, but refugees fear clashes with locals.
As Australian Government contractors prepare to leave Manus Island, the Papua New Guinean government contracted IHMS – the healthcare provider for Australia’s offshore processing regime – to remain beyond the 31 October deadline. As services will no longer be provided at the detention centre, asylum seekers and refugees were being assisted to self-manage their medications during the transition – a move some health professionals labelled risky given the high prevalence of mental health issues.
The UNHCR urged Australia to take responsibility for the situation in Papua New Guinea, which it labelled an ‘imminent humanitarian crisis’. The refugee agency expressed serious concerns about detainee health, welfare and security, following visits to the island last month.
The federal government awarded an Australian civil engineering firm a six-month contract worth more than $8 million to provide welfare and garrison services to the Nauru detention centre. Canstruct International Pty Ltd will take on the role next week from Broadspectrum, who announced last year it was abandoning its work in offshore detention. Human rights groups accused Canstruct – which has no experience in refugee services – of profiting from the suffering of people fleeing persecution.
Australian Government officials appearing before the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva were questioned about Australia's human rights record. One committee member described Operation Sovereign Borders and Australia’s offshore processing of asylum seekers as ‘shocking’. Australia was elected unopposed to the UN Human Rights Council earlier in the week.