By Sasha Pei-Silovo – EM TV, Port Moresby
President of the Catholic Professionals Society of Papua New Guinea and Human Rights Lawyer, Paul Harricknen, has called for the asylum detention centres in Manus and Nauru to be shutdown.
Speaking to Radio Australia’s Tok Pisin service, Harricknen raised concerns over the violations of human rights of refugees being held in the detention centres and said that Australia should consider closing down the facilities.
There have been numerous reports of human rights abuse on Australia’s offshore asylum centres in Manus and Nauru which include the Cornall Report on the first riots on Manus Island, the Moss Review into allegations of sexual assault and conduct of service providers on Nauru, and a Senate inquiry into abuse allegations on Nauru.
From the reports, substantial evidence has been found of the abuse of asylum refugees such as the sexual assault of women and children, physical abuse, water and sanitation problems and poor healthcare, among other issues.
In July, Harricknen made a similar call, saying that the Manus detention centre had brought “nothing but trouble” since its establishment. He made the comments following the allegations of the attempted rape of a local woman by Australian security personnel at the centre.
The human rights lawyer says that the rights of asylum seekers were being breached.
On Monday, Australian political parties the Greens and Labor stood in solidarity to refer the Manus and Nauru detention centres to a Senate committee to investigate the treatment of refugees, and if centres were operating transparently and complying with Australian and international laws.
The new parliamentary inquiry into the centres is designed to lift restrictions on whistleblowers, where they will now be able to disclose information without being held back by the Border Force Act which prohibits persons from releasing information.
The media is prohibited from entering any of the controversial asylum centres and much of what is known about the facilities is revealed by whistleblowers.
The Australian Women in Support of Women on Nauru, a human rights campaign group, have also called on the Australian Government to remove asylum seekers from centres on Manus and Nauru.
In an open letter to the Australian Prime Minister, MalcolmTurnbull and Opposition Leader, Bill Shorten, the women’s group have spoken out against the sexual assault and torment of refugees and expressed support for the men, women and children being detained on Manus and Nauru.
The group have also announced their crowd-funding drive to raise money to fund an investigative journalist, Wendy Bacon and former West Australian Premier, Carmen Lawrence, to travel to Nauru on a fact-finding mission. Their decision follows the latest series of reports of 23 men, women and children being allegedly raped in the Nauru detention centre.
In other cases, two women from Somalia, aged 26 and 23, were also allegedly raped in the asylum centre on Nauru. It has been reported that Nauruan police have stopped NGO organisation, Save The Children, from operating, seizing computers and phones from staff.
