About 50 refugees being held in camps on Manus Island and Nauru will be welcomed to start afresh in the United States.
In a deal struck between Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and the Obama administration, some of the asylum seekers left stranded by Australia will be accepted as refugees into the US.
While the initial number is only a small fraction of the nearly 1200 men, women and children in the island detention centres, Mr Turnbull said more would be taken in over time.
Asylum seekers staring seen from behind a fence at the Manus Island detention centre
In a speech shared to his social media accounts on Wednesday night, he thanked US President Donald Trump for agreeing to honour the deal that was famously almost lost during a testy phone call between the world leaders.
‘I thank the President and the United States for honouring the deal,’ he said.
‘Vetting and processing by the United States will continue, and further decisions by US authorities in respect of others are expected in due course.’
Nearly 800 men are being held on Manus, and 371 men, women and children are detained on Nauru, according to Australian immigration data as of July 31.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has thanked President Trump for honouring the deal
The camps’ conditions have been widely criticised by refugee advocates and medical professionals, who say some asylum-seekers suffer from mental health problems due to their prolonged detention.
A PNG court ruled last year that holding people on Manus was unconstitutional, and Canberra is set to shut the camp in October.
In the lead-up to the closure of the camp, asylum seekers on the island have reported they have lost electricity and clean water in what they see as a move to force them out.
Tensions have been high between locals and asylum seekers, as those detained in the camps complain of attacks on the processing centres and dangerous conditions in the community.
The ‘deal’ between Australia and the United States involved the US accepting up to 1250 refugees in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, in return for Australia taking asylum seekers from Central America.
More than 1600 refugees have expressed interest in the US resettlement deal, but it remains unclear what will happen to those not taken by the United States.
Asked about the fate of the leftover refugees, Mr Turnbull insisted Australia’s resettlement deal with Cambodia was still on offer.
Security fences surround buildings inside the Manus Island detention centre in PNG
Up to seven refugees have taken up the offer to resettle there but the majority have instead chosen to return to their countries of origin.
Australia allocated $55 million to the Cambodia deal which is largely seen as a failure.
Amnesty International urged Washington to take as many refugees as possible to ensure ‘not a single person is left behind’.
‘Amnesty International acknowledges the US for giving people a genuine chance at settling and restarting their lives in a safe place,’ said the group’s refugee coordinator Graham Thom.
US President Donald Trump has agreed to take in the refugees after a testy phone call this year
‘But for the sake of those still living in the harmful conditions on Nauru and Manus we are urging the US to take as many people off these islands as possible.’
The Human Rights Law Centre echoed these sentiments, saying while some now had hope, the majority remained in limbo.
‘In signing the US deal our government was rightly conceding that it couldn’t just abandon people on Nauru and Manus forever,’ said the centre’s director of legal advocacy Daniel Webb.
‘That was an important and long overdue concession. Now, it is our government’s responsibility to make sure not a single person is left behind. Not one life can be abandoned in limbo.’