Transcript
A recent public forum held by PNG's Catholic church in Port Moresby discussed the difficulties and uncertain futures faced by asylum seekers and stateless people with permissive residency. One such person is a West Papuan who says he and others who fled his homeland since the beginning of Indonesian rule in the 1960s are indebted to PNG.
"Some are coming here even though they don't have a clear status, even though they become floating here in PNG. But we do appreciate PNG you do take care of my people, West Papuans, very well. And we owe you a lot. we thank you to PNG because we celebrate 1st of December (anniversary of Papuan declaration of independence) freely, peace, no on stop us. But us back home, we cannot do that. We will end up in jail, or we will end up in graveyard."
There's understood to be 16 foreign nationals currently in PNG under the watch of the International Organisation of Migration. They include the West Papuan, five Pakistanis, one Bangladeshi, a central African, two from Ivory Coast, four Sudanese, and two Somalis. 13 of them have had refugee status granted and are awaiting resettlement. The three who were rejected and still fighting for resettlement include a Pakistani.
"It's also very hard, like when I go out sometimes some people they call 'asylum seeker' or 'refugee'. It still make hard. It's not easy. We need justice. My other friends they got refugee certificates, so I'm the rejected one and I don't know what will happen, and I stay six years."
Meanwhile, the president of PNG's Catholic Professionals Society, Paul Harricknen, says both PNG and Australian governments must stop holding 600 refugees on Manus as it is unlawful. In 2016, PNG's Supreme Court ruled that holding men on Manus against their will was unconstitutional. PNG's government claims the men are no longer detained on Manus, but Mr Harricknen says the men have no freedom, are monitored and are kept against their will.
"Close to most of them do not want to stay in PNG, because in the first place PNG was not their destination. And for them to be brought here and detained and continue to be detained, whether you keep them on Manus, whether the detention centre is closed, whether you keep them in a hotel and give them money and expect them to run around, that's still detention."
The Catholic church has written to the government about the medical condition of the refugees on Manus, calling for a dignified ending to Australia's indefinite detention of the men in PNG. Mr Harricknen says the government indicated it is outside its power to do anything about it.
"PNG government is still waiting or Australia to make that call. And I think that is no a good position because we are talking about our own laws and we are talking about people suffering on our land. Our government has to take responsibility."
The church is seeking support from the IOM and the UNHCR to push the governments to end the plight of the men on Manus.
