A Papua New Guinea court has ruled against restoring basic services to refugees staying in a closed Australian-run detention centre.
About 600 men are refusing to leave the Manus Island camp which shut last week.
They have been without electricity, food, running water and medical and security services since the closure.
Lawyers for the group filed a case in the PNG Supreme Court, arguing for basic services to be reinstated on human rights grounds.
They also sought for the men to be transferred to a safe, third country, and for the PNG army to be prevented from forcibly removing the men.
Australia detains asylum seekers who come by boat on PNG`s Manus Island and on the Pacific Island of Nauru under a controversial offshore detention policy.
Most of the men at the Manus Island have been classified as refugees.
The Australian government shut down the centre on 31 October, following the PNG court`s ruling that the centre was unconstitutional.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Tuesday the men could move into three new "very high quality" facilities set up elsewhere on the island.
However, most of the men have refused to move citing fears over being attacked by locals, claims which have been echoed by Human Rights Watch.
Last week, the UNHCR labelled the situation of the island an "unfolding humanitarian emergency".
The men in the centre have been digging wells for water in the compound, and have stockpiled food rations.
0 comments:
Post a Comment