High Court to rule on Manus Island detention centre's legality

Updated

Papua New Guinea's role in Australia's offshore detention regime will be decided by the High Court in Canberra today.

The court is considering whether the law declaring PNG as a "regional processing country" is valid under the constitution.

Lawyers for an Iranian man who arrived at Australia's Christmas Island in July last year have asked the High Court to find his removal to the Manus Island detention centre in PNG as illegal.

The Manus Island centre has been in the spotlight after deadly rioting in February left Iranian Reza Barati dead and more than 60 other asylum seekers injured.

A Senate inquiry has revealed tensions in the lead up to the riots were fuelled by overcrowding and deep frustration over the lack of processing in the centre.

The High Court's ruling is strictly focussed on the legality of the Manus Island detention centre.

In 2011, the court scuttled plans by the Gillard government to send asylum seekers to Malaysia.

That plan fell short because Malaysia was not a party to the international convention on refugees.

The court found that because Malaysia is not bound by international or domestic law to protect asylum seekers, Australia could not lawfully send those seeking asylum there.

That is because Australia could not guarantee genuine refugees would not be returned to countries where they had a well-founded fear of persecution.

The Manus Island case is different as Papua New Guinea has ratified the convention.

This challenge is about other issues, including the legalities involved in processing individuals.

Imagery: Aerial view of Manus Island Regional Processing Centre taken on March 2, 2014. (DigitalGlobe)

Topics: constitution, government-and-politics, courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, refugees, community-and-society, australia, papua-new-guinea

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