🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea: Strangers in Paradise | 101 East
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- čas přidán 23. 10. 2014
- "It's like a prison, like Guantanamo Bay, the one America built in Cuba," says Faisal. As he sits in a refugee detention centre on an island in the middle of the Pacific, his dream of starting a new life in Australia is fading.
Many refugees fleeing war and persecution dream of starting new lives in Australia, but recently any who try to travel there by boat instead end up on shores far away in Papua New Guinea.
More than 3,500km away from Faisal, his sister Samar waits by the phone in her Sydney home. When he calls, he tells her he has no news of when he will be released.
This is the life of more than 1,000 men detained behind the barbwire fences of Australia's refugee processing centre on PNG's remote Manus Island. Most of them are fleeing countries like Iran, Iraq, and Sri Lanka. They are detained for months or years while their claims are being processed, after which they are either sent home or to a third country.
It is difficult to gain access to the detention facility - where refugees live behind high fences and appear to be housed in shipping containers. Tensions are high. Detainees are frustrated over long waiting and processing periods.
Earlier this year, frustration at the camp exploded into violence. Riots broke out over two days and were brutally put down by PNG police. At the height of the violence, Reza Berati, a 23-year-old Iranian asylum seeker, was killed.
The Australian government insists sending asylum seekers to Pacific Islands for processing deters refugees from risking their lives on dangerous sea journeys. For the more than 60,000 Manus islanders, hosting the refugee processing centre
promises job opportunities and increased Australian aid.
But at a nearby village, angry locals are calling for the detention centre to be shut down. According to Ruth Mandrakamu, the mayor of the provincial capital, Lorengau, the centre is breeding resentment and animosity.
"We are not benefitting in the way we should be," she says. "I just want to make sure the governments of Australia and Papua New Guinea bring something permanent here for the local people."
The Australian government recently announced that their resettlement policy in PNG will be revised. But it provides little information of its plans for the Manus Island detention centre or the refugees held inside. What is clear is that many locals staunchly oppose accepting refugees into an already impoverished nation.
101 East travels to the remote Manus Island in Papua New Guinea to investigate Australia's controversial detention policy and the lives it continues to affect.
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I'm a pacific islander. I know most of those pacific islanders are Christians. I myself wouldn't want Muslims refugees to come and resettle on my people's land.
Ametama true not welcome in Pasifika,peace.
Very true
Ametama what you offer for humanity if you think you are better than them?
No hate stronger then Christian love
Bro. Most are escaping islam.
Thank you MP Ronnie Knight for supporting your people in Manus thats the way a leader should do to support the interest of his/her people.
My Australian grandfather Tony Charlie was deported to Manus Island Detention Centre.
Athe (Grandfather) Tony Charlie was a corporal in the Australian Army and was considered to be an Australian his whole life.
He was NOT even a refugee.
Athe's family moved to Darnley Island in the Torres Strait from a neighbouring island.
This was before the Torres Strait Treaty, before relevant operations of the Migration Act, before the relevant zones were set up in 1978 and before the 1967 referendum.
He lived on Darnley Island in the Torres Strait as a Torres Strait Islander with our family in accordance with traditional laws and customs.
Athe's family moved to Darnley island before Darnley island was claimed to be part of Australia and the neighbouring islands were claimed to be part of Papua New Guinea.
During his life as an Australian, he was a Corporal in the Australian Army and received an Australian defence medal and a certificate of service from the Australian Army for what he did for Australia as an Australian.
As an older man, he had problems with drinking and was found laying down on the ground in Cairns Australia. An ambulance and the police were called and they assumed Athe was just a homeless drunk causing public nuisance.
Athe had actually been assaulted in his head that day and was laying down as a result of a head injury. He was not homeless and had his own house, land and family on Darnley Island.
The ambulance arrived with men in gloves who decided to shake him to wake him up. With his limited capacity due to the head injury and delirium the old man woke up frightened and thought he was being assaulted again. The old man tried to defend himself and struck the ambulance officer. He did not know who they were or what they were doing to him at the time. He was not on dugs he had a head injury.
Athe was immediately charged by a police officer and sent off to prison in Cairns with his head injuries. He was further assaulted in prison, with obvious injuries to his head again. He was recorded on video by concerned family members trying to prove that he needed help and was unable to represent himself on any charges placed on him.
On the video recordings while still in Australia, Athe who was once a well spoken proud man was now unable to put sentences together and his speech was very slow and limited. His physical body movements also very slow and off balance.
Athe was then suddenly deported to Manus Island detention centre and was declared an illegal immigrant from Papua New Guinea.
This has been reported to many departments including the department of immigration, No-one in the Government seems to care. Someone falsely signed his documents to have him deported.
Several years have passed now and the old man has been wrongfully imprisoned overseas. Many family members from the Darnley Island community, including Indigenous elders have written statuary declarations explaining that Athe is a Darnley Island man.
To this day we do not even know what has happened to Athe and if we will ever see him again.
That's sad. Don't give up. All governments suck.
Sad. Hope he has been allowed back home
Wow this is so sad. Dont give up on grandfather, keep fighting for him. May God be with him and your family.
Why did not they approach the court for justice?
Thats plain racism
I am from PNG. so come humble to strange land and people their will offer humanity like a good Samaritan. look these immigrants treat local nurses and local as inferior even when they try to save their precious life. what kind of human being is that? Did their father and Koran teach them how to live peacefully with people around you? we do not discriminate people and if we go a strange land we keep our mouth shut and appreciate little things they offer. I think these immigrants are cause of problem in their own country.
you can not blame Australia, i am sure no one wants to open their door wide open for stranger to enter their house
Honestly, I feel sad for the new Guineans.
Me too.
too bad too much war in the middle east
It's not a given that if you're let into Australia, then all your family members will be too. If it's that hard to be separated why come in the first place? And yeah it's like Guantanamo Bay..just without the handcuffs and prison uniforms and waterboarding. These people are from Egypt. There is no war in Egypt now, they are simply coming to Australia for economic reasons. I would suggest if she feels so strongly about being with him they both go back to Cairo.
you said one of the poorest country and reported people survve on fishing and hunting to feed their families THATS FALSE REPORTING and I see some most latest cars there ...try to report fairly..PNG IS NOT POOR PERIOD
PNG might be rich in minerals and have lots of money but there is a great divide between the poor and rich. It is poor development wise and its people are poor because the government and all those up there only do deals for themselves but in general PNG is not poor. Only it's people are
Miiss Norma True.
Mostly all the time every nation have hirrerachy and most of all people is at the bottom (peasant)
Very interesting but it's sad.
Everyone here expressing their views on harsh treatments in the Detention Centre and why Australia will not allow refugees on their soil but no one is worried about The Island being used as a dump yard by Australia!
Interesting people!
Eight years in Australia, and I am wondering why she is not giving the interview in English. Unless of course, she is speaking Arabic to reach Al Jazeera's larger Arabic viewers.
She was not given the opportunity to learn English in school
Over 2 centuries in Australia and you can't speak aboriginal languages.
why cant she take him back to where he came from if she is really concerned...
Because Egypt is an overpopulated area that's perpetually struggling.
These are ,mostly economic migrants. They should try to process them within say one month and put them back on boats or planes to their original home countries.
why you not back to Europe first
@@bodweenalex8645 if it is illegal it is illegal... You cannot return the clock back to stone age..
It's obviously better than where they came from
Aaron, good program. How did you learn Tok Pisin? Send me a PM, k?
Papuans, Melanesians, Australian Aboriginals, Polynesians, And Micronesians all need to form a Native Oceanian Union yeah
She is a doctor and she is laughing about using expired equipment
Why didn't he and she go to another arab country
Why didn't America invade Canada or Mexico? Why America invade Iraq instead?
This refugees should also know in what circumstances Papua New Guineans live in.
These people need to go to the country that borders their country or to the nearest bordering country not in wartime to claim refugee status Not to the other side of the planet, just because you dont like your country does Not give you the right to move to any country you desire and pick n choose where they want to go, Australia has made it very clear that if you try to come Illegally then you will never see the shores of australia, these people should be sent back to the nearest bordering country to where they came from that is not in wartime conditions, thats how its supposed to work and these people cannot and will not be rewarded for their illegal behaviour......
It's funny how it's cool for white people to "settle" anywhere they like without regard for the native inhabitants. They even out them in reservations where they became strangers in their own backyard. But they b!+ch and moan when dark-skinned immigrants set foot on the lands they stole from someone else. 😂 Lord, give me patience with these hypocritical fools.
They need to go back and fix the mess in their own country. Come to Australia this Aboriginal have no choice they walked here and no care for this people.
@@gtorr47 Then Go back to your native ways and give up all the white man has brought you. Medicine, electrity, vehicles and that phone your using. GTFOH!
I don't these people are real refugee i think they are economy migrants.
Australia has the strictest, and the best migration policy
Give them asylum in qatar Al jazeera ...
@joebob the wars too
How you in a country you not supposed to be in and complain about healthcare
Taylee Nicole 👍
They are so entitled.
why not every human should have acxcess to proper Healthcare
How can you be a supervisor or manager when you can't even read. If you let them run the places, they will only hire their own family and friends and then the fighting starts. You can't help these people.
Why is an Australian refugee detainee centre on a Papua New Guinean island community without the local governments consent? Should be in Australian lands and much better funded.
Manus is not poor....your definition of poor is not the same here.
If u know that u come from a war stricken country why complain? Atleast u eat n can sleep in peace n no war. Do not expect that u can just go somewhere n walk free. U dont understand their culture n then u will cause more problem for ur host n bring ur culture of war to us.
They live in inhumane conditions in large prison camps and you're wondering why they complain?
You will never understand for you were lucky enough to be born in a peaceful and rich country. So rich it blurs your view on people in need and turns you into a selfish savage!
@@brotippsbros5049 better then where they come from at least! If it's worse then why don't they go back if it's worse in PNG? Selfish? He came by boat! He knew it was ILLEGAL! Serves him right!
Tony Theomae Ikr! Ungrateful people!😕😬
$491 million this year in aid that's more than $100,000 per person yeah
Your brother should have stayed back!.
That woman ask for rights, but she did not get the english language right in 7 year...nice!
These people ❤️ have been dumped on our shores, why?????
People are crazy creating problems on each other, worst own Enemies 🤗 cultures are very different from each other,let alone landscape , environment, and the weather, my thing is very simple ,if you are not happy with where you originally come from, be great full , for where you are in the meantime,💚 for starters some people are fleeing their birth Countries for the wrong excuses 🤗 💙💚🧡✌️
This is the Aboriginal Land no one considering their approval, people from every where think this is a place of refuge for them. Come on these Aboriginal live in a third world country in the community. Come on !!! don’t come here and think it is easy like that. Go and help the indigenous and acknowledge they allow you to stay here or go back to your country if you’re not happy about Australia.
Her brother should go back to Egypt
Infact his/her ancestors were invaders in affrica/send him back to arabia.
Aaron Fernandes speaking tok pisin
Well done to him
I think well done to Australian Government
They show that how powerful law enforcement the r having
His mistake was he came by boat. We let them in, thousands drown. We can go back to before. Very few come by boat for this reason. It worked. It hurt a few to stop the death of many.
Lets talk about the people waiting in line for years to enter Australia
people who are in camps and went through the system, why should
anyone jump the queue by boat to get ahead of others? lets talk about
the family of 10 from Afghanistan whose father left a peaceful village
against his extended family's wish for economic reasons, was given
refugee status in Papua which was not rich enough for him,paid smugglers
to take them to Australia, lost the whole nine members of his family, then
he returned to Afghanistan alone, this woman is busily making demands
for her brother to be released, she had no rights in her own country, now
she's bothering the passersby
... coming from very rich countries - really. Am I wrong or are these a bunch of complainers .....
The lady crying about her brother at the detention center in Manus makes my head boil. They don’t belong to Australia,Australia belong to the Aborigines and the British people who first got there and developed the country. Although it was brutal in the beginning but at least the British developed the soil of Australia for it to be the way it it today
Lady take your brother and go home to Egypt and try dictating
to your own government, wealthy countries cannot take in everyone
who is poor, and stop making demands which you could not
make in your own country
well go back back then to Europe
Not sure if the moustache was a great idea, steve
He is welcome to return home tho, Australia owes you nothing
Andrew Slevin that's true but I heard of a thing called pay it forward and it seems to be a good way to make the world better so it's a tough one because war can happen anywhere and I'd like to know my kids can seek asylum overseas if they need to.
but Astralia funded and participated in wars and selling Weapons , exploit New papua
They are shameless. This is terrible. Help these people, don't punish them.
They have to self develop. They cannot depend on Australia to provide for their daily and annual needs. Australia/New Zealand, Indonesia will never do what's in their best interest. They must do whats in their best interest and abandon "Cargo" mentality. You have to take stock and develop self-sufficiency. Take stock of natural resources and skills and negotiate better terms. Welcome to the world!
i wonder who introduced "cargo"
INDONESIA!!???
@@keturahiyano1980 nah mate what your problem with indonesia?
Can't they go back to their homeland?
He took the risk, send him back and if she keeps on send her back to the silly old boot
If they are Egyptians, they should better seek asylum from brother Arabs, the rich countries of the Middle East, like Qatar,KSA or UAE.
Make some new jobs beautiful manus people. I Wish I could live there. Tourism research is big.
Sure wish America had balls like Australia
We want to come to Australia and live in a house like you do, but we want your tax payer to pay for it and feed us and our family free of charge.
I've just remember the Papua New Guinea President asked help to the Philippines President Duterte for the improvement of education their people because the Australian government denied their request, decade ago. Just now I've learned they helped a bit for road and infrastructure in exchange for the asylum seeker community or refugees.
Misinterpretation I guess
If it's so bad they can "Refugee" back
A bunch of liars.
Why don't Arab countries take in refugees?
This is a black nation and also Papua New Guinea
Papuans are very nice people, but they won't be smacked in the teeth by criminals as easily as you would like. eh?
@Richárd Primusz Have you? Stop spewing garbage
It's alright saying they are all menial jobs but how many people are qualified to do anything else people can't expect to be just given a job
Looked like cat for dinner.
Use research tourism charge people money to do research. Keep foriegn people of your waters. Your such a lovely I want to help. Use Christianity and get big from people that want preach. Preach preach. Pray for yous. Detainees is not the way forward.
See what I mean, Australia threw them on an island and they're economy is really picking up
You think? I'm from PNG and developments promised by Australia for using Manus as their rubbish bin has not been, to this day NOT fulfilled.
This is not the Melanesian way, sick Australian Politicians
green shirt and kakky pant
Who would trust a muslim?😂
Pathetic,to incarcerate people in this way
CHINA CAN DO BETTER RIGHT NOW ALL MUSLIM COUNTRY ARE UNITED TO HELP THEIR FELLOW MUSLIM COUNTRY SO SAD.
The doc is a dwarf hahaha
Research the asylum seekers