Australia's High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea and Papua New Guinea's Foreign Affairs and Immigration minister signed a memorandum of understanding in Port Moresby on 19 August to reopen Manus Island detention centre for asylum seekers.
Under the deal, Australia will send newly arriving asylum-seekers to the Pacific nation for processing and will provide financial assistance to support the establishment and operations of the detention centre.
The memorandum says the establishment of an "assessment centre" will be a visible deterrent to people smugglers. It also says special arrangements will be made for "vulnerable cases, including unaccompanied minors".
Australian Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen says the signing of the MOU is an ''important development''. He also said the deal sent a clear message that countries in the region were working together "to ensure the integrity of our borders and undermine people smuggling networks".
The two countries will now work together on plans to establish the detention centre, however many of the details are still unclear, including how much it will cost and how many people the centre will hold. Mr Bowen said that the centre would take “several weeks” to be reopened but it would happen as soon as possible.
Manus Island is located near the equator, some 400 kilometers north of the Papua New Guinea`s mainland. The detention centre was used by the former government of Prime Minister John Howard until 2004, and became infamous for its appalling conditions. A number of asylum- seekers detained there attempted suicide in a desperate attempt to draw attention to their plight.
Human rights and refugee groups have criticized plans to reopen the Manus Island detention centre, Amnesty International Australia refugee spokesman Dr Graham Thom has said "in both cases (Malaysia and Papua New Guinea) Australia is outsourcing its humanitarian obligations to developing countries and worsening the trauma of refugees who have fled conflict, persecution and torture."
However, unlike Malaysia, where Australia also intends to send asylum-seekers, Papua New Guinea has signed the UN Refugee Convention.
Mr Bowen said that the signing of the memorandum of understanding commits both governments to treating detainees with dignity and respect in accordance with the United Nations convention on refugees, processing them as quickly as possible and at no cost to the Papua New Guinean government.
Australian treasurer Wayne Swan said the government was determined to break the people smuggling business model. "The message to the people smugglers and to all of those considering coming is that if they come here, they will be processed in another country.”
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