UN / AUSTRALIA REFUGEES

The United Nations spokesperson said today the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) is “gravely concerned by the deteriorating conditions at a processing centre for refugees and asylum-seekers” on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. UNIFEED

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:04
• Production Date: 8 August 2017
• Asset Language: English
• Personal Subject: STEPHANE DUJARRIC
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: REFUGEES
• Geographic Subject: AUSTRALIA; PAPUA NEW GUINEA
• MAMS Id: 1946342
• Parent Id: 1946342
• Alternate Title: unifeed170808e

Description

STORY: UN / AUSTRALIA REFUGEES
TRT: 00:45
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 8 AUGUST 2017, NEW YORK CITY

Shotlist

RECENT

1. Wide shot, UNHQ exterior

8 AUGUST 2017, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, press room
3. Cutaway, reporters
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General:
“Our colleagues at the UN Refugee Agency said today they’re gravely concerned by the deteriorating conditions at a processing centre for refugees and asylum-seekers in Papua New Guinea on the Manus Island, where a young refugee tragically died yesterday.”
5. Cutaway, reporters
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General:
“UNHCR stresses that, to prevent further tragedies and an escalation of the crisis, critical services must continue, adding that any further reduction of support for refugees and asylum-seekers transferred by Australia to Papua New Guinea would compound the serious health and security risks faced by people who have been detained in the past four years. UNHCR once again calls on Australia to urgently find viable, humane solutions outside of Papua New Guinea and Nauru for people remaining under offshore processing arrangements.”
7. Wide shot, press room

Storyline

The United Nations spokesperson said today the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) is “gravely concerned by the deteriorating conditions at a processing centre for refugees and asylum-seekers” on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.

Briefing reporters in New York today (8 Aug), Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General, said UNHCR is “gravely concerned by the deteriorating conditions at a processing centre for refugees and asylum-seekers in Papua New Guinea on the Manus Island, where a young refugee tragically died yesterday.”

UNHCR reported that the closure of the centre on the island, including medical care, torture and trauma support as well as security services, has been announced without appropriate alternatives, causing acute distress among the 773 people who remain on Manus Island.

Dujarric said “UNHCR stresses that, to prevent further tragedies and an escalation of the crisis, critical services must continue" adding that any further reduction of support for refugees and asylum-seekers transferred by Australia to Papua New Guinea "would compound the serious health and security risks faced by people who have been detained in the past four years.”

The agency also called on Australia’s government “to urgently find viable, humane solutions outside of Papua New Guinea and Nauru for people remaining under offshore processing arrangements.”

Approximately 2,500 refugees and asylum-seekers have been forcibly transferred by Australia to ‘offshore processing’ facilities in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Nauru since the introduction of the current policy in 2013. Of these, some 1,100 remain in Nauru and 900 in Papua New Guinea.

Following the Australia-US bilateral agreement on relocation, UNHCR has referred more than 1,100 refugees to the US over the past eight months. Another 500 people are still waiting for the outcome of the refugee status determination processing being carried out by authorities in PNG and Nauru, under the Australian arrangement.