Firstly, a glimmer of good news. Two refugees that had been detained in Australia’s offshore detention system have now been resettled in Canada. Australian Expats in Canada are raising funds and lodging applications to bring to Canada, one by one, an estimated 330 refugees stranded on PNG and Nauru who are ineligible for US resettlement. So far, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, two refugees from Australia’s offshore detention system have now been resettled in Canada under its private sponsorship scheme. You can read more about it here

However, since the transfer of refugees from Manus Island to PNG, it is estimated that roughly 600 asylum seekers still remain on Nauru and PNG. An additional 135 refugees have been transferred to Australia for medical treatment. 

Worse still, there are 57 male asylum seekers who were transferred from Manus Island to PNG, and are now being held in Bonama immigration detention centre in Port Moresby in individual isolation cells, in truly atrocious conditions. It has been reported that they are not being given nearly enough food to eat, and are losing weight. They are not allowed visitors, or any contact with family members. They have no medication. They have no access to any legal advice. Advocates have been unable to access Bonama detention centre and the  physical and mental health of the asylum seekers being held there is declining rapidly.

The refugees that have been indefinitely detained offshore by the Australian government, some now into their seventh year, should immediately be offered a safe, secure third country that they can call home. New Zealand’s longstanding offer to take 150 refugees each year is still being refused by the Australian government. What is the reason for this refusal? This is an urgent humanitarian issue that should take precedence over an individual country’s politics. Refugees and asylum seekers deserve protection, not detention.

Please continue to support and share this petition and help to give a voice to the asylum seekers that remain indefinitely detained offshore by the Australian government, some into their seventh year of being in limbo, and still with no safe, permanent place to call home.  

Thank you for signing and sharing this urgent humanitarian petition.