![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
#IAmWatching Manus
Nov. 3rd, 2017 09:57 pmThere are snap rallies on in Sydney and Melbourne tomorrow, Saturday 4 November.
Manus is a landscape of surreal horror | The breath of death on Manus Island: starvation and sickness (GA, 3 November 2017) Behrouz Boochani's diary continues. He describes the helpless alarm when the epileptic detainee has a seizure, which makes me worry he does not have his medication.
The military are stopping donated food from reaching the detainees (some is getting in).
Local police on Manus Island say they will not use force to move the detainees. The danger, then, is that the navy or the Mobile Squad will do so.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees representatives, who inspected the new accommodation on Monday this week, report that: "If all 600 individuals were to leave immediately, many would not find adequate or sufficient accommodation elsewhere. The East Lorengau Regional Transit Centre was only intended for temporary accommodation and has limited capacity. There is no security fence at 'West Lorengau Haus' or 'Hillside Haus' in the Ward 1 area of Lorengau. UNHCR observed on 30 October that construction of 'West Lorengau Haus' is incomplete. Containers are surrounded by mud and do not have electrical or water connections as yet. Construction is being significantly hampered by rain."
Manus Island asylum seeker returns to detention centre after walking 20km from alternate accommodation (ABC, 2 November 2017) We don't know why yet (though we can guess).
The world is watching: Australia has stranded hundreds of refugees on remote Manus Island (Washington Post, 2 November 2017) | What is happening on Manus Island, where Australia has stranded hundreds of refugees? The detainee crisis explained. (Pittsburg Post-Gazette, 2 November 2017 - originally from the NYT)
Let me put forward some uncertain predictions about this crisis, which could so easily have been avoided. In the absence of food, clean water, working toilets, cooling, and medical care, and the plentiful presence of mosquitoes, it seems likely there will be a serious outbreak of sickness at the centre. I hope that I'm right in thinking that PNG does not want to and will not use force to relocate the men, which would be a losing proposition for them whatever the results. Australia will once again reject New Zealand's offer to take some of the refugees; but PNG and NZ may strike their own deal, independent of Australia. In any case, construction will eventually be completed at the new camps, and the surviving refugees will feel safe enough to move there. So the question becomes how many refugees will escape Manus as a result of this mess, and how many will die because of it.
Manus is a landscape of surreal horror | The breath of death on Manus Island: starvation and sickness (GA, 3 November 2017) Behrouz Boochani's diary continues. He describes the helpless alarm when the epileptic detainee has a seizure, which makes me worry he does not have his medication.
The military are stopping donated food from reaching the detainees (some is getting in).
Local police on Manus Island say they will not use force to move the detainees. The danger, then, is that the navy or the Mobile Squad will do so.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees representatives, who inspected the new accommodation on Monday this week, report that: "If all 600 individuals were to leave immediately, many would not find adequate or sufficient accommodation elsewhere. The East Lorengau Regional Transit Centre was only intended for temporary accommodation and has limited capacity. There is no security fence at 'West Lorengau Haus' or 'Hillside Haus' in the Ward 1 area of Lorengau. UNHCR observed on 30 October that construction of 'West Lorengau Haus' is incomplete. Containers are surrounded by mud and do not have electrical or water connections as yet. Construction is being significantly hampered by rain."
Manus Island asylum seeker returns to detention centre after walking 20km from alternate accommodation (ABC, 2 November 2017) We don't know why yet (though we can guess).
The world is watching: Australia has stranded hundreds of refugees on remote Manus Island (Washington Post, 2 November 2017) | What is happening on Manus Island, where Australia has stranded hundreds of refugees? The detainee crisis explained. (Pittsburg Post-Gazette, 2 November 2017 - originally from the NYT)
Let me put forward some uncertain predictions about this crisis, which could so easily have been avoided. In the absence of food, clean water, working toilets, cooling, and medical care, and the plentiful presence of mosquitoes, it seems likely there will be a serious outbreak of sickness at the centre. I hope that I'm right in thinking that PNG does not want to and will not use force to relocate the men, which would be a losing proposition for them whatever the results. Australia will once again reject New Zealand's offer to take some of the refugees; but PNG and NZ may strike their own deal, independent of Australia. In any case, construction will eventually be completed at the new camps, and the surviving refugees will feel safe enough to move there. So the question becomes how many refugees will escape Manus as a result of this mess, and how many will die because of it.
