Every delay is a delay, which means justice is denied to transferees, now called residents, in Manus Province.
This issue needs to be rectified quickly, says Refugee Coalition Action Australia spokesman Ian Rintoul.
Ian Rintoul made the comments on Monday after attending the Supreme Court case involving the inquiry into the residents held in Manus.
He said after the ruling, things remained the same. Only terms were changed to the process and status of those kept there. From transferees, they are not called residents without formal documentation given to them.
He said the Supreme Court has spoken on April 26, when it found the Regional Processing Centre in Manus as unconstitutional and illegal, but people are still being denied their freedom and are subject to the rules and regulations of that detention centre.
“It is extremely frustrating that we are not seeing action from both Australia and PNG government to actually close the center. The asylum seekers were brought illegally to Manus Island and now there’s been a decision that it should be closed. We see this issue as a human rights issue,” he said.
Iranian Mohsen Sakhravi, who has a refugee status, has been in Port Moresby for three months and said others like him in Manus just want their freedom.
“They did not ask us, ‘Do you want to go to PNG or not?’ So what are them going to do with us? We are not slaves, we are just seeking asylum. Every single day, ok the court say next week.”
For Sakhravi, it has been seven years since he left Iran to seek asylum in a different country.
“It’s been seven years for me, my friends, they get mentally affected in the camps. We want them to just let us go. We don’t know about policy, judges, courts or anything, we just want freedom – just like that,” he said.
The PNG Migration, through its lawyer, has been informing the court on the progress at the centre and what Migration officers in Manus have been doing in terms of the orders issued on April 26.
As of Friday, July 15, 636 transferees, or now residents in Manus, have been given refugee status, 128 have been screened and identified as non-refugees while 203 are asylum seekers still being processed.
43 transferees are still in Australia for medical reasons. 13 of those are refugees while 30 are asylum seekers.
Altogether, there are 1,010 residents. Immigration staff at the Regional Processing Centre in Manus will continue processing 203 residents with asylum seeker status till October.
(Ian Rintoul and Mohsen Sakhravi, in black, outside the courthouse on Monday.)