World
Amid widespread outcry over reports of abuse in Australia’s offshore detention centers, Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill announced that the two countries have agreed to shut down the Manus Island facility. The announcement came after O’Neill met Australia’s Immigration Minister Peter Dutton in the capital, Port Moresby.
In April, the P.N.G. Supreme Court ordered the government to close the Manus Island facility, saying that the detention of asylum seekers and refugees violated the country’s constitution, writes The Guardian.
On Tuesday, more than 100 former employees from Australia's offshore detention centers signed a letter, urging Australia to bring the detainees to the mainland, notes the BBC. Toby O'Brien, a former child protection officer for Save the Children, said that he feared that by the time inquiries come with their findings, more number of adults and children would suffer from immediate risk in the camps.
More than 1,800 academics, including experts who have contributed in shaping up Australia’s existing refugee policy, have called on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to convene a summit to find ways for ending the plight of about 2,000 asylum seekers stuck on Nauru and Manus Islands, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.
Recently, about 2,000 leaked incident reports gave a detailed account of physical and sexual abuses, humiliating treatment and harsh conditions faced by asylum seekers in Australia’s offshore detention camp on Nauru Island.
