UN Condemns Manus Island Processing Facility
Thursday 27 February 2014 @ 10.59 a.m. | Immigration
A former migration agent working on Manus Island has revealed that she was told to lie to inmates as well as describing the government’s processing system as ‘fake.’ This comes in the wake of the UN deadline on its order for Australia to release all detainees and pay them adequate compensation.
The UN Compensation Order
Barrister and Professor of Law Ben Saul had taken the issue of Australia’s detention of asylum seekers policy before the United Nations, which found in their favour, describing Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers as cruel, inhumane and degrading. The UN had subsequently ordered the release of all detainees and compensation to be paid. The deadline has since expired and Australia has done nothing to indicate that they would follow its decision.
Currently, ASIO and the Immigration Minister have declined to respond to queries while the Attorney General, George Brandis, vouches that the Government is in the process of drafting a response to the United Nations. Brandis emphasises that ASIO’s priority and responsibility is to provide for the security of Australia before all else.
Whistleblower from Manus Island
A former migration agent, Liz Thompson, who was interviewed by ABC News, has described the facility at Manus Island as being primarily a deterrent measure against future asylum seekers as opposed to being the processing facility that it should be. Ms Thompson explains that she was instructed to not discuss resettlement and third country options with inmates, effectively condemning them to indefinite detention.
Ms Thompson believes that the inmates knew their fate and this was the chief factor causing the violence on Manus Island. She described that there was no clarification to the inmates regarding where they would end up. She was instructed under threat of employment termination that she was not to suggest to the inmates that they would be able to get off PNG.
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