Manus Refugees: Saints or Sinners?
Over 400 men remain in the Manus Regional Processing Centre despite it’s official closing on October 31st[i] The men were expected to move to alternative accommodation units nearby in Lorengau, but refused to leave due to their alleged fears of being attacked by locals.[ii] There have five attacks committed against Manus refugees this year, three occurring in July in the same weekend, with two men being left with serious injuries from machetes and knives wielded by muggers. One other man was robbed but sustained no injuries.[iii] An attack also occurred earlier in April, when officers of the nearby PNG naval base fired at least 100 rounds into the centre, injuring 9 people.[iv] In the wake of the April shooting, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton claimed tensions in the area were heightened after a young boy was spotted being led into the camp:
"There was an alleged incident where three asylum seekers were alleged to be leading a local five-year-old boy back toward the facility."[v]
This claim evoked a media backlash, with ABC reporter Barrie Cassidy attempting to embarrass Mr Dutton in an interview, declaring his claim untrue:[vi]
”The boy wasn’t 5 he was 10, it didn’t happen on the day of the disturbance it happened a week before the disturbance, and there’s CCTV footage outside of tent number one that shows the boy went inside and the people… gave him fruit and he left.” Cassidy said, a corroboration of the PNG Police Commissioners account of the incident.
However, Border Force Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg’s perspective of the young boy entering the camp was different, stating that:
"The very fact that a child under the age of 10 is in an environment where there are single adult males — after dark — and that child is left unattended even for minutes at a time is of fundamental and profound concern."[vii]
Quaedvlieg also mentioned that centre residents engaging in the “bartering and exchange of money and goods, for sex with the local women” by may have heightened tensions, and that a resident had been charged with a number of counts of sexual penetration of a child in March.
He concludes that it is “almost inconceivable to assert there is no correlation between (the incident Dutton mentioned) and rising tensions on the island." Dutton certainly had some details incorrect, such as the age of the child and the precise date it occurred, but the crux of Dutton’s claim remains valid: a young boy was led into the camp which contributed to the tensions between camp residents and locals. As for the criminal behaviour mentioned by the Border Force Commissioner, it is far from isolated, with PNG authorities recording 161 incidents since 2013 of various offences including assault, sexual assault, aggressive behaviour, unlawful entry, property damage and contraband.[viii] According to The Weekend Australian,[ix] some refugees, who receive $100 a fortnight, were using small items such as cigarettes and chocolate to lure underage girls into engaging in sexual acts. Peter Dutton told a radio show that 190 men from Manus would travel to the nearby village of Lorengau by bus each day, and that some of them had threatened to rape the wives and children of locals.[x] A former prison guard from the camp supports this claim, stating that the prison set up an all day bus service into the centre of town.[xi]
The former guard also tells of ‘advocates’ in Australia setting up ‘Gofundme’ pages in order to help the refugees.
One ‘Gofundme’ named ‘Manus Emergency Fund’ has since raised over $10,000 in donations, in 7 months.[xii]
The former guard claims these donations are used to bribe police after committing atrocities against prison staff including numerous assaults - one of note being a female doctor having a rubbish bag put over her head and strangled.
According to the former guard, PNG police charged the refugee who committed the aforementioned assault, but on the day of court, the police were not in attendance and the evidence went missing.
When asked if the inmates are genuine refugees, the former guard answered:
“Some are, some aren’t. Some asylum seekers were given refugee status without even being interviewed. A lot of them are looking for a better life, but a lot of them have all the up to date clothing range, the watches, the phone, the jewellery.”
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection have confirmed the number of genuine refugees at the camp. Staggeringly, close to 25% (253/1025) of the men at Manus Island were found not to hold official refugee status.[xiii] Iranian Journalist Behrouz Boochani,[xiv] who still resides in the camp, has become a known figure for his frequent reporting of camp conditions. Boochani describes himself and others as ‘political hostages’[xv] who have been 'detained for no reason, incarcerated without committing any crime’[xvi], though Boochani fails to mention the hundreds of men who have been freely leaving the camp every day for years. Despite these criticisms, Boochani also acknowledges the PNG government’s plan to resettle genuine refugees introduced in 2015, which includes assistance in finding housing, jobs, and 6 months of assistance by case workers, yet is still adamant that all the remaining men desire is ‘freedom’.[xvii] “I will stay inside the detention centre for the rest of my life rather than go to PNG,” one refugee stated in 2015.
It’s not doubtful that there is tension between PNG locals and camp residents, though considering the vast number of crimes committed it comes as no surprise. The men remaining on Manus Island demand a third country to migrate to, but considering most of these men likely left their own country by way of illegal trafficking, were rejected residence in PNG, and committed a plethora of crimes, to what lengths should our sympathies extend?
References:
[i]
https://twitter.com/BehrouzBoochani/status/931399737927811078
[ii] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-31/manus-island-detention-centre-to-close-at-5pm-today/9102768
[iii]
http://www.news.com.au/world/pacific/two-men-seriously-injured-in-manus-island-machete-attacks-refugees-say/news-story/7c2da4f81c45f24a3360d9cb72a6cc37
[iv]
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-22/manus-island-nine-people-injured-in-shooting/8546588
[v] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-31/manus-island-detention-centre-to-close-at-5pm-today/9102768
[vi]
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-23/dutton-sticks-by-manus-shooting-account/8464994
[vii]
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/border-force-chief-backs-peter-duttons-view-of-manus-island-shooting-20170522-gwa7hl.html
[viii]
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/sex-and-drugs-at-manus-island-village/news-story/6ab3987bd443a1b230904d1000d13327
[ix]
https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0ahUKEwjZ5aeeidHXAhWEULwKHSy8At0QFgguMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Fnational-affairs%2Fimmigration%2Fsex-and-drugs-at-manus-island-village%2Fnews-story%2F6ab3987bd443a1b230904d1000d13327&usg=AOvVaw15BbPhVfho5USSm_26IspG
[x]
http://www.news.com.au/national/politics/men-detained-on-manus-island-had-sex-with-girls-bought-drugs-in-town-australian-officials-told/news-story/2ac84105cc6cf2bee3af2ccb8118ff0f
[xi] https://www.3aw.com.au/former-manus-island-guard-gives-insight-into-drug-deals-violence-and-attacks-on-staff-and-locals/
[xii]
https://www.gofundme.com/mgj6fs
[xiii] http://newsroom.border.gov.au/channels/media-releases/releases/a4e1949e-3a4b-4750-bc65-cda9b3a668d1
[xiv]
https://twitter.com/BehrouzBoochani
[xv]
https://twitter.com/BehrouzBoochani/status/931312793998934016
[xvi] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/13/all-we-want-is-freedom-not-another-prison-camp
[xvii]
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/oct/24/hundreds-of-refugees-are-refusing-to-settle-in-pngs-land-of-opportunities
