Asylum-seekers heading home from Manus: Peter O’Neill
Asylum-seekers at Manus Island processing centre are choosing to return to their home countries in greater numbers than is being made public, according to Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill.
The unreported flow back to countries of origin comes as Australia’s nearest neighbour claims a growing acceptance among asylum-seekers about the processes adopted by PNG.
O’Neill told The Australian the country felt it had a role to play in preventing asylum-seekers dying as they tried to reach Australia.
Headed that growing numbers of asylum-seekers were choosing to return home.
“We are quietly sending more people back to their home countries than has been published,” he said during a visit to Melbourne last week.
Official figures released by Australia’s Operation Sovereign Borders show eight Iraqis, six Iranians and one Lebanese agreed to return in February.
The number of asylum-seekers in the Manus centre fell from 1023 at the end of January to 1004 at the end of February, and is likely to have fallen below 1000 last month although the March figures are not available.
In February, 298 interim assessments were completed, with 163 asylum-seekers found to be refugees and claims by 135 rejected. Eleven moved into a new transit centre built to house those given positive assessments, at East Lorengau on Manus.
O’Neill said: “We have received positive reports of good acceptance by our communities” of this early group of refugees being resettled in PNG, “and the refugees themselves are very happy with the arrangement”.
He said that “it’s obvious we are on the right track, and the sooner we resettle many of the asylum-seekers, after processing, the better for everyone”.
He added the original agreement between Australia and PNG to hold asylum-seekers on Manus Island was signed by then prime ministers John Howard and Mekere Morauta in 2001, and that he and Kevin Rudd in 2013 had “just renewed that arrangement”.
“I know the emotions of the issue have created a lot of debate, some based on facts and some unnecessary,” O’Neill said.
“It has been unfortunate the Australian media have played up to this in a very aggressive manner, portraying PNG as an undesirable place to live.
“It’s important to note that we went in to this arrangement knowing our friends in Australia needed help, and that many lives — about 2000 by then — were being lost at sea.
“This was happening within our neighbourhood, and we had a solution that was available, so it was important that we continued to engage meaningfully. Now we have a decent way of asylum processing in Manus.”
The PNG Prime Minister said this was substantial because “we have now taken control of that facility, and as a result there is much more acceptance among asylum-seekers of the way in which we manage the centre, and the processing of individual cases is well under way”.
Source: Pacnews
The unreported flow back to countries of origin comes as Australia’s nearest neighbour claims a growing acceptance among asylum-seekers about the processes adopted by PNG.
O’Neill told The Australian the country felt it had a role to play in preventing asylum-seekers dying as they tried to reach Australia.
Headed that growing numbers of asylum-seekers were choosing to return home.
“We are quietly sending more people back to their home countries than has been published,” he said during a visit to Melbourne last week.
Official figures released by Australia’s Operation Sovereign Borders show eight Iraqis, six Iranians and one Lebanese agreed to return in February.
The number of asylum-seekers in the Manus centre fell from 1023 at the end of January to 1004 at the end of February, and is likely to have fallen below 1000 last month although the March figures are not available.
In February, 298 interim assessments were completed, with 163 asylum-seekers found to be refugees and claims by 135 rejected. Eleven moved into a new transit centre built to house those given positive assessments, at East Lorengau on Manus.
O’Neill said: “We have received positive reports of good acceptance by our communities” of this early group of refugees being resettled in PNG, “and the refugees themselves are very happy with the arrangement”.
He said that “it’s obvious we are on the right track, and the sooner we resettle many of the asylum-seekers, after processing, the better for everyone”.
He added the original agreement between Australia and PNG to hold asylum-seekers on Manus Island was signed by then prime ministers John Howard and Mekere Morauta in 2001, and that he and Kevin Rudd in 2013 had “just renewed that arrangement”.
“I know the emotions of the issue have created a lot of debate, some based on facts and some unnecessary,” O’Neill said.
“It has been unfortunate the Australian media have played up to this in a very aggressive manner, portraying PNG as an undesirable place to live.
“It’s important to note that we went in to this arrangement knowing our friends in Australia needed help, and that many lives — about 2000 by then — were being lost at sea.
“This was happening within our neighbourhood, and we had a solution that was available, so it was important that we continued to engage meaningfully. Now we have a decent way of asylum processing in Manus.”
The PNG Prime Minister said this was substantial because “we have now taken control of that facility, and as a result there is much more acceptance among asylum-seekers of the way in which we manage the centre, and the processing of individual cases is well under way”.
Source: Pacnews
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