Horrific footage from within Manus Island Detention Centre shows squalid conditions
THE squalid living conditions for refugees refusing to leave the decommissioned Manus Island detention centre can be revealed for the first time — including how the 580 men still there are digging for groundwater to survive and burning parts of the buildings to boil water for drinking. WATCH THE VIDEO
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HORRIFIC video from within the Manus Island detention centre reveals for the first time the squalid conditions faced by the men who have refused to leave.
The footage, obtained exclusively by The Daily Telegraph, shows the dire state of the camp, officially closed nine days ago.
The 580 men still living in the camp are caught in a stand-off with the Australian and Papua New Guinea governments, who want to move them to new facilities near the island’s main township of Lorengau.
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The footage shows in the bathrooms there is no running water and toilets and urinals are filthy and clogged. Green slime covers the floor of the shower recess and there is grime and mould on the walls.
Men are seen sleeping on tables outside to escape the heat inside shipping container accommodation which is now without air-conditioning, with temperatures reaching 40C. Some sleep on tables because the bunk beds inside are bolted to the floor.
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The footage also reveals the men have built makeshift wells from wheelie bins to collect water. Water is drawn up through the ground under the pressure of the double-bin structure, while more water is funnelled down from the roof with makeshift drains. Food is being smuggled in and the men are burning cardboard and wood to cook meals and boil water.
The footage was taken on Sunday night and the early hours of Monday morning by activist group GetUp. It is the first time outside operatives, who travelled on tourist visas, were able to access the centre unaccompanied.
Filming took place overnight to avoid detection at the centre on the grounds of the Lombrum Naval Base. GetUp’s human rights campaign co-director Shen Narayanasamy was among the trio. She described the conditions as “uninhabitable”, adding the men’s refusal to move to another unfinished facility 20 minutes’ drive away was not a protest but a bid to stay safe from hostile locals.
“You have to ask why would anyone endure anything like this. Because they think they may face a slow death (in the centre) but outside they believe they will be rapidly in danger,” Ms Narayanasamy said.
The federal government has spent $30 million on new facilities to go with another that has been open since 2014, and says all are operational with security, health care and recreational facilities available. But the men refuse to join more than 70 asylum seekers already living in one of the centres, citing security concerns. Immigration minister Peter Dutton has dismissed claims around security. He has blamed activists for encouraging the men to stay for political reasons.
Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull also blamed activists for “encouraging these people not to move”.
“I think that the responsible course of action is to encourage them to comply with the lawful requests and requirements of the PNG authorities,” he told the ABC this week.
Pictures published in The Australian this week revealed one of the facilities near Lorengau where the PNG government wants to move the men has incomplete sewerage works, demountable buildings still not secured and a lack of security fencing.
However the Australian Immigration Department insists the accommodaiton is ready.
Meanwhile, PNG’s immigration department yesterday notified the centre’s residents they had two days to vacate or be forced out.
“If necessary, force may be used to relocate those who refuse to move voluntarily,” said the letter to residents authorised by department administrator Esther Gaegaming.
It warns that security fencing at the centre will be removed and anyone found there “may be arrested and locked up for being unlawfully on PNGDF property”.