Australian Government Pays Compensation to ‘Detained’ Asylum Seekers
The Australian government is paying compensation to a group of asylum seekers who were sent to a camp outside the country.
Australia’s Immigration Ministry has stated that the government is willing to pay a total of 70 million Australian dollars (approximately 53 million dollars) to 1,905 asylum seekers who were sent to the Manus Island camp in Papua New Guinea. These individuals were sent to Manus Island in Papua New Guinea as part of the Australian government’s policy of sending asylum seekers to camps outside the country while their refugee applications were being processed.
The complaint was filed against the Australian government and the contracted company managing the Manus camp.
This group of asylum seekers, through legal action in Australian courts, stated that during their stay at the camp between 2012 and 2016, they “suffered physical and psychological harm and pressure” and held the Australian government responsible.
By accepting the government’s settlement offer, the complainants must withdraw their lawsuit and judicial proceedings on the case will not continue. The case was scheduled to formally begin today, Wednesday, June 14, at the Supreme Court of Victoria, but before the formal start of the trial, government lawyers presented a compensation payment proposal to prevent entering into this civil suit.
They also stated that the government is willing to cover the costs of filing and pursuing the complaint up to this stage, which amount to more than 20 million Australian dollars.
The details of the government’s settlement proposal have not yet been released and the court has not ruled on the acceptability of the settlement proposal, but one of the complainants’ lawyers stated that receiving this compensation will help his clients “move past this painful chapter of their lives.”
The Australian Immigration Ministry, meanwhile, “strongly” rejected any allegations of wrongdoing and stated that the decision to settle with the complainants was a financially prudent measure and avoided a lengthy civil suit. The Immigration Minister stated that claims made about unfavorable conditions at the Manus Island camp are untrue and that the Australian government has always made every effort to ensure suitable conditions for asylum seekers sent to this facility.
The case has attracted widespread media attention and judicial proceedings on it, which would certainly have included accounts of camp conditions from the complainants’ perspective, would certainly have received extensive media coverage.
The Manus Island camp was created based on the Australian government’s policy to counter the wave of asylum seekers who typically made their way to Australian shores by boat and sought asylum there. With the implementation of this policy, the Australian government sent these individuals to centers outside the country and they were forced to remain in these centers, effectively in detention, until their asylum applications were processed.
The Australian government has stated that the Manus Island camp will close in October of this year.
Source: BBC
