MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Papua New Guinea and Australia have agreed to close the migrant detention center on the Manus Island, after the PNG Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional, PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said Wednesday.
"Both Papua New Guinea and Australia are in agreement that the center is to be closed," O’Neill said after a meeting with Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, as quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.
Australia had been sending people who come to the country to seek asylum to offshore detention centers on the islands of Manus and Nauru, a practice which has been criticized by rights groups for subjecting the detainees to inhumane conditions. Many of the migrants have been held in these detention centers for over three years with no clear deadline in sight.
In April, the PNG Supreme Court ruled that detaining undocumented migrants seeking to enter Australia on Manus Island was unconstitutional.
