Refugees

Lawyer for the transferees Ben Lomai said the state was served section 5 notice today (Monday).

“We have served Section 5 Notice on the State this afternoon. The applications will be filed tomorrow (Tuesday) morning,” he said.

Kurdish-Iran journalist Behrouz Boochani tweeted on social media that he was one of those in Lorengau who filed affidavits today supporting the Supreme Court application, which will be filed on Tuesday seeking injunctive orders.

“We hope our lawyers prevent the government (sic) taking refugees out by force & cutting water,” he tweeted.

Lomai represents 730 transferees in a human rights enforcement application case currently in the PNG Supreme Court.     

He is now preparing a new constitutional enforcement application over the closure of the center, which he intends to file in the Supreme Court soon.

Demolition exercise has commenced at the centre in Lombrum leading up to October 31, where every transferee is to be relocated to other transit centres in Lorengau.

All services at the centre will cease as of October 31.

This was the message delivered by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill when addressing the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday in New York.  

“Many of the challenges that confront us today are not of our making, but we bear the consequences of actions by other larger and developed countries,” PM O’Neill said to leaders and delegates from UN Member States. 

“We are facing a refugee crisis in the world today,” says the PM.

“People are being pushed out of their homes because of war, natural disasters and the loss of livelihood. 

Their lawyer, Ben Lomai, on Friday verbally asked the court to issue orders to stop the dismantling at the Lombrum centre, restore electricity, power, security and stop the possibility of their resettlement in PNG.

Lomai told the court there have been breaches to their human rights, and the court had the power to grant the injunctive orders they are seeking.

He said right now they are being overcrowded in two compounds after the dismantling of some of the compounds commenced early this month.

Deputy Chief Migration Officer, Esther Gaegaming, said the Regional Processing Centre is holding men from 20 different countries.

Gaegaming said 700 men have been granted refugee status.

“The refugees have been provided resettlement in the country, under the agreement with the Government of Australia; of course there are some of them who do not want to settle.

“Non-refugees we will have to return them (to their home country),” Gaegaming said.      

The main celebrations will be staged at the Sir John Guise Indoor stadium today from 10am to 3pm, with the theme “Yumi Hamamas Wantaim”.

Celebrations of the day are being organised by the Refugee Division of the PNG Immigration and Citizenship Service Authority.

The day’s event will comprise music and cultural performances by West Papuans, art competitions by secondary schools in Port Moresby, photo exhibitions and music by PNG Refugee Ambassador Anslom Nakikus.

About 60 asylum seekers and guards came to blows after an argument over food quality.

About 60 asylum seekers and guards came to blows in the running battle, as the governments of PNG and Australia met in Port Moresby to discuss refugee resettlement.

Coast guard Mohamed al-Alay told Reuters the refugees, carrying official UNHCR documents, were on their way from Yemen to Sudan when they were attacked by an Apache helicopter near the Bab al-Mandeb strait.

Mohammed Abdiker, emergencies director at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said 42 bodies had been recovered.

He said the attack at around 3:00am on Friday (local time) was "totally unacceptable" and that responsible combatants should have checked who was aboard the boat "before firing on it".

 US District Judge Derrick Watson cited "questionable evidence" in the government's argument that the ban was a matter of national security.

President Trump described the ruling as "unprecedented judicial overreach".

The order would have placed a 90-day ban on people from six mainly Muslim nations and a 120-day ban on refugees.

Mr Trump insists the move is to stop terrorists from entering the US but critics say it is discriminatory.

An earlier version of the order, issued in late January, sparked confusion and protests, and was blocked by a judge in Seattle.