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Is the Manus Island Detention Centre Closed or Not?

Papua New Guinea’s Chief Justice says yes. The Australian Government says no.

Last year, Papua New Guinea's Supreme Court ruled that detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island breached the nation's constitutional right to personal liberty, and was therefore illegal. Since then, the fate of the 850 men who have been detained there for the past three years has been unclear. The Australian Government is adamant they're not coming here, but has been unable to find some other place to send its refugees—most of whom have been assessed as "legitimate," whatever that means.

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Now we have a sort-of answer to the question of what will happen to the Manus detainees: They'll stay put for now. The ABC reports that Papua New Guinea's Chief Justice has told its Supreme Court that because detainees now have some freedom of movement within the navy base it is housed within, the Manus detention centre is technically closed. Even though the same 850 people are still living in it.

"The Government of Papua New Guinea complied with the court order and closed the Manus Island Regional Processing Centre," he told the court.

"The transferees were allowed to move freely in and out of the Processing Centre, and later when the Processing Centre was shut down completely, they were accommodated at the nearby PNG Defence Force Navy base."

For reference, that naval base is a small compound on an already very small island—the detention centre takes up most of the space within its grounds. Manus Island is only 100 km in length, and has been used for various military operations since WWII.

While the announcement will disappoint those who rejoiced when the same court ruled the Manus Island centre illegal, perhaps we should have been expecting this all along. Back then, in April last year, the PNG Supreme Court found the detention centre was illegal because it infringed on freedom of movement. But now that its detainees have slightly more movement, there's little more they can do to convince the PNG Government to shut the centre.

For what it's worth, even though PNG seems to think that the Manus Island centre is closed, Australia's Department of Immigration still lists the centre as being operational on its official website.

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