NNWN/ Canberra, 2017-11-04

The controversial decision of the Austrialian government relating to Manus Island detainees has come under criticism from the United Nations human rights commission. The Australian government withdrew support to former Manus Island detainees. The stand-off over the provision of services to more than 600 men entered fifth day on Saturday.
In a statement, Rupert Colville, spokesman for high commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said the UN’s human rights committee had “serious concerns about the welfare, safety and wellbeing” of the men who remained at the centre in Papua New Guinea, which was formally decommissioned on Tuesday.
The UNHRC criticism came after the detainees on Nauru called for an investigation into the death of a 29-year-old asylum seeker, who was killed in a road accident on the island nation on Thursday. Water to the centre and essential medical services were also cut off on Tuesday, while electricity was disconnected on Wednesday morning. The men have been digging for water. “We call on the Australian government, as the party who interned the men in the first place, to immediately provide protection, food, water and other basic services which have been cut off since authorities shuttered the facility on 31 October,” he said.
The UNHRC repeated its criticism that Australia’s offshore refugee processing regime was “unsustainable, inhumane and contrary to its human rights obligations” and said asylum seekers and refugees should be immediately transferred to Australia for processing.Rallies in support of the Manus refugees were held in Canberra and Brisbane on Friday and planned for Melbourne and Sydney on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Australian government has rejected claims it abandoned the detainees, saying water, power and medical services are available at three alternative accommodation facilities that can be “accessed at any time,” and that comfortable and secure transport to take them to those facilities is also “standing by”.The government has not addressed a report made by the UN high commissioner for refugees, which inspected the alternative accommodation this week and said one of the units was not ready for occupation.
On Nauru, police reportedly arrested a man connected to a fatal crash that resulted in the death of a 29-year-old asylum seeker from Bangladesh, but detainees at the Nauru regional processing centre were concerned about the circumstances of the accident.