By Sasha Pei-Silovo โ EM TV Online
A report from an Australian senate committee has slammed the Australian government for allegedly โfailing to protectโ asylum seekers during the February riots at the Manus asylum detention centre.
The rioting and clashes were described as “eminently foreseeable” by the report.
The Australian Immigration and Border Protection Minister, Scott Morrison has hit back at the senate committeeโs report stating that it โwhitewashedโ the mistakes of the previous government.
Morrisonย along with Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Julie Bishop,ย Minister for Defence David Johnston and Minister for Justice Michael Keenanย are in Papua New Guinea for the annual Australia-Papua New Guinea Ministerial Forum and Business Dialogue.
Among issues to be discussed, is theย implementation of the Regional Resettlement Arrangement, seen as part of the Australian government’s solution to Australiaโs boat people issue.
The report scrutinised the events leading up to the violent outbreak on February 16 to the 18th at the asylum detention centre which saw asylum seekers fight against guards and locals on the island of Manus. Many were injured and Iranian native Reza Barati was killed during the rioting.
The February occurrences at the Manus asylum detention centre โcould have been preventedโ if asylum seekers โhad been on a clear pathway for assessing their refugee claimsโ, the report stated.
The senate committee report further claims that according to the evidence presented, the government of Australia had โfailed in its duty to protect asylum seekers including Mr Barati from harm.โ
Recommendations have been made for the government of Australia to allow the UN and Australian human rights commission to be given full access to the detention centre; and for those who have suffered violations of their human rights to be fully compensated.
The report also recommends for the improvement of training of staff at the facility.
Previously in May this year, an Australian government-sanctioned official report had established that the asylum seeker, Reza Barati, was killed as a result of being โbrutally beatenโ by a group comprised of guards and locals โwho had entered the detention centre at the time of riotingโ.
Two staff at the Manus detention centre were arrested for the Iranianโs murder but the death of Reza Barati has become a focal point for activists who continue to protest against Australiaโs asylum seeker policies. The UN has also accused Australia of โshirking international obligationsโ and many have expressed numerous concerns over the conditions at these centres.
Australian Immigration and Border Protection Minister, Scott Morrison, while responding to the senate committee report, said that his Liberal-coalition government had inherited the detention centreโs problems when they took government, stating that it was โunderfunded and incomplete and resettlement arrangements were little more than a blank sheet of paperโ.
He described the โreportโ as being made by a committee largely comprised of representatives of Australiaโs opposition.
He said that the report was used by the Labor and Greens parties as a โblatant attempt to whitewash their own failures in government.โ
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