Offshore Asylum Seeker Detainees Win Historic Compensation in Australia
Manus Island asylum seeker detention centre. Image courtesy Behrouz Boochani. Used with permission.
An out-of-court settlement has highlighted the treatment by Australia of people seeking asylum who have been detained in Papua New Guinea's Manus Island detention centre since 2012.
About 1,905 men are to share 70 million Australian dollars (about 52 million US dollars) in compensation from the federal government and security companies Transfield and G4S. The class action argued that they suffered “physical and psychological harm” in the detention centres.
Their lawyers, Slater and Gordon, spelt it out:
Lead plaintiff Majid Kamasaee in a statement said, “I came to Australia seeking peace, but I was sent to Manus, which was hell.”
— Slater and Gordon (@SlaterGordon) June 14, 2017
“Most were fleeing religious persecution and violence and came to Australia seeking protection, only to be denied their basic human rights.” pic.twitter.com/4ervDxDxsk
— Slater and Gordon (@SlaterGordon) June 14, 2017
The defendants will also pay 20 million (about 15 million US dollars) in legal costs. After the announcement, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton denied any admission of liability by the government.
John Lord and Martin Appleby, writing at the Australian Independent Media Network blog, called out the minister:
Shame, my country, shame on you that you would allow such evil to take place.
[…] Rather than defend their actions, which for the duration of the court proceedings would have caused considerable embarrassment for the government they chose, for 100 million dollars, to hide their atrocities from public view.
Refugee law professor Jane McAdam also questioned the minister's motives:
Avoiding #refugee litigation lets govt prevent evidence by over 70 witnesses & 200,000 documents being made public https://t.co/wdRxbyc3OO
— Jane McAdam (@profjmcadam) June 14, 2017
Iranian journalist and detainee Behrouz Boochani has documented life on Manus capturing video with a mobile phone. The result is “Chauka Please Tell Us The Time”, a collaboration with Iranian-Dutch filmmaker Arash Kamali Sarvestani.
It premiered at the Sydney Film Festival on 11 June to an enthusiastic reception:
A sea of fists in the air for filmmaker @BehrouzBoochani – locked on #manusIs #CloseTheCamps #auspol #Chauka #SydFilmFest pic.twitter.com/RlfkF0qj4Y
— DosvidanyaTrump (@MiraWroblewski) June 11, 2017
Behrouz posted his thoughts about the compensation deal on his Facebook page:
The compensation that Australia wants to pay to the refugees in Manus is not enough. They want to pay an average of about $35000 to each person and this amount can never cover four years of the suffering we have experienced. The majority of the refugees have been seriously damaged physically and mentally and this money is not even enough to cover the medical expenses they will have to pay as a result.
Most comments on his post were positive, but there was some opposition. Helen Yammine argued, “Why did they sneak in to Australia, they should have no right to compensation”.
Wendy Williams, a journalist with the non-profit Pro Bono Australia, is hopeful of a change to the current policy regarding people seeking asylum who come by boat:
The announcement should be the “final nail in the coffin” for offshore detention, according to social sector leaders.
Not everyone on Twitter was pleased with the payout:
The law is a shame.. Australian mugs are handing over $70M in compensation to 1900 illegal immigrants on Manus Island.
WHY?#auspol #Rudd— Tibster AU (@TibsterAU) June 15, 2017
There are many similar comments (with some dissenters) on conservative journalist Andrew Bolt's blog post “WE PAY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS A FORTUNE FOR REFUSING TO GO HOME“.
In contrast, some on Twitter drew attention to the large sums of money already spent on the offshore program. These have apparently run into the tens of billions:
$35,000 each in compensation when each Manus prisoner cost $500,000 pa to keep in unlawful custody . The immoralists got off cheap.
— Dally Messenger III (@dallymessenger) June 14, 2017
Others compared the compensation with the “failed” program to resettle detainees in Cambodia:
Curious the $70m compensation paid to #Manus victims has produced louder howls than the $50m it cost to send 3 ppl to Cambodia #auspol
— Reclaim Humanity (@anusha_srini) June 14, 2017
Tim Byrnes captured the feelings of many online who are sympathetic to the plight of the detainees:
I get the feeling #ManusIsland asylum seekers would rather live in Aus than the payout #auspol #Bringthemhere
— Tim Byrnes (@timbyrnes89) June 14, 2017
Earlier Global Voices posts about Manus Island include:
2 comments
Thanks for drawing attention to this issue. You might be interested in this response http://www.womeninandbeyond.org/?p=21362
Thanks for the link. The struggle for justice is clearly not over.