MSF Doctors Concerned Over Lack of Access to Manus Island Compound

Medecins Sans Frontieres, an international medical humanitarian organisation has been refused access to the asylum seekers lodged in Manus Island facility in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The now-closed facility, Manus Regional Processing Centre is one of many offshore Australian immigration detention facilities.

MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders was given permission by PNG immigration authorities last week to medically examine hundreds of asylum seekers and refugees.

According to the organisation, the private security contractors stationed outside the facilities refused the team access.

Stewart Condon, President of MSF Australia, who was also part of the medical team expressed his concerns about the impact of the violence in the detention centres.

“We've been in PNG for more than 20 years, but it's a shame we've been blocked access to the Manus refugees & asylum seekers”, said MSF Australia in a tweet.

MSF rarely engages in speaking out publicly, but Condon said his organisation had to openly denounce the situation as no other options were left.

The Manus facility, established in 2001, was outsourced by Australian organisation to a private company Broadspectrum (formerly known as Transfield Services Ltd). The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) had accused Australia of opening such offshore facilities as a policy formation to avoid international obligations.

"UNHCR reminds Australia of its obligation to take full responsibility and provide effective protection, safety and lasting solutions for all refugees and asylum-seekers in cooperation with the Papua New Guinean authorities," the UN organisation had said in a statement.

Violence and unrest flared at the Manus Island detention centre on the weekend as PNG officials moved the 328 men remaining in the decommissioned facility to new camps. According to eyewitnesses, asylum seekers were beaten with sticks, having their phones seized, medicines destroyed, and other property stolen.

Soon after videos showing immigration officials assaulting refugees and forcefully evicting them surfaced.

https://twitter.com/ZazaiWalid/status/933822488080871424

The effort to physically clear the camp – codenamed Operation Helpim Friends - began on Thursday with about 50 refugees and asylum seekers taken from the detention centre to other accommodation on Manus Island – most of which is not yet fully built, without running water, electricity or security fences, reported The Guardian.

Meanwhile, thousands of people attended protest rallies across Australia, calling for the asylum seekers to be evacuated to Australia.

Earlier, in February this year, a petition before the International Criminal Court (ICC) argued that Australia's network of offshore immigration detention centres could constitute a crime against humanity.

A submission from the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) along with Stanford International Human Rights Clinic, citing the grave nature of the alleged crimes and the large number of people that were affected, called upon the Office of the Prosecutor at the ICC to investigate the matter.

The Communiqué to the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC Under Article 15 of the Rome Statute noted that Australian agents and personnel of their corporate partners have perpetrated crimes against humanity.

In August, thousands of incidents of crimes against asylum seekers were reported in an 8000-page leaked document. These ‘Nauru Files’ documented the assaults, sexual abuse, self-harm attempts, child abuse and living conditions endured by asylum seekers held by the Australian government, painting a picture of routine dysfunction and cruelty. The leaked documents can be accessed here.

As part of the ‘Pacific Solution’ policy developed post 9/11, the Australian government and its partners prevent any asylum seekers trying to enter Australian waters by boat from reaching the mainland.

The policy mandates forceful interception and transferring asylum seekers to one of Australia’s offshore immigration detention facilities on the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru, or on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea.