CLOSE DOWN MANUS DETENTION CAMP
RISE supports the call for JUSTICE and FREEDOM by our communities in Manus Island detention camp.
RISE condemns the dire situation faced by asylum seekers in the Manus Island asylum seeker internment camp created by the Australian government, outsourcing and dumping its responsibilities to a less wealthy country like Papua New Guinea. The re-opening of this camp in 2012 by then Prime Minister Julia Gillard and immigration minister Chris Bowen has resulted in two asylum seeker deaths. Yet Australia continues to keep it open and a private Australian company Transfield Services is being paid 1.22 billion dollars to run this camp.
At present there are approximately 926 ( previously 1050) asylum seekers refouled by the Australian government to Manus Island, indefinitely detained and blocked from resettlement in Australia.
There are 50 million displaced refugees around the world. Many are languishing without proper protection in interim camps. Australia’s discriminatory, human rights violating “offshore” processing system for asylum seekers who arrive by boat adds tally to the interim camps and keeps refugees in isolation. Deterrence measures may lower the number of asylum seekers in Australia, but it is not a just and arguably illegal in the context of international refugee and human rights law and also humanitarian solution for people trying to cross borders by boat, or any other form of transport, desperately seeking a place where they can be safe.
We urgently request the public to resist Australia’s xenophobic government policies by demanding greater transparency, fairness and humanity in the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees who are human beings seeking protection from persecution and #ShutDownManus and including other detention centres offshore and onshore.
To lobby for international action, please email your concerns:
For our international supporters – please contact the Australian embassy
You can also contact your member in the House of Representatives and ask them to take action. Find your member http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Members
RISE: Refugee Survivors and Ex-detainees