Five refugees for resettlement ‘test cases’

Five refugees from the Regional Processing Centre in Manus will be identified and made known to the court next Monday (July 25) to undergo a test case of resettlement in the country.

Lawyer Ben Lomai, who is representing over 600 residents at the processing centre, will be assisting the Supreme Court to identify five of his clients to undergo the resettlement test case.

The request came from Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia on Monday when receiving an update of the progress on processing on the island from Laias Kandi, the lawyer representing Immigration Minister Rimbink Pato and the Chief Migration officer Mataio Rabura.

The Chief Justice has taken on himself to conduct an inquiry into the status of the orders issued by the court in Namah’s case on April 26.

The five refugees will undergo test cases that will assist the court identify issues surrounding resettlement of the refugees in the country.

As of Friday, July 15, 636 transferees, now termed residents, are in Manus.

128 have been screened and identified as non-refugees while 203 are asylum seekers still being processed.

43 transferees are in Australia for medical reasons. 13 of those are refugees while 30 are asylum seekers.

Those remaining 203 asylum seekers will undergo the Minister’s final determination once they are processed through the merits review process.

Picture source: ABC

 

Author: 
Sally Pokiton