Manus Island detainees won on Wednesday a conditional settlement, £41.6 million to be shared by 1,905 people who have been held at camp since 2012, averted a public trial against the government and security providers Transfield and G4S.
Australia agreed to pay almost £42 mln to Manus Island detainees who were seeking the compensation, according to the papers, they claimed the ‘degrading and cruel’ treatment. Thus, the Australia should compensate this damage. The Manus case was due to be heard in the Victoria Supreme Court on Wednesday.
A class action had sought damages for what claimants said was suffering due to the harsh conditions in which they were held. It also called for a payout for false imprisonment after the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court ruled last year that holding asylum-seekers on Manus Island was unconstitutional and illegal.
The lawyers about Manus case and government’s position
the professional opinion of the lawyers from Slater and Gordon is simple – they believed it was the largest human rights class action settlement in Australian history. The heavy and hostile conditions should be compensated, so the defendants also agreeing to pay more than A$20 million in costs.
“The people detained on Manus Island have endured extremely hostile conditions, but they will no longer suffer in silence,”
the firm Slater and Gordon’s Andrew Baker.
In general, the situation with the migrants is still unclear. Despite the millions of dollars it has cost already, and the critical headlines the migrant flow has generated, the government of Australia is unlikely to regret its policy of sending asylum seekers offshore.
Therefore, Manus island and the camp will be the same hostile place, which became an excellent reason to suit the Australian authorities year by year. A vicious circle is still strong, and the compensation will change nothing – the migrants come to an island every day.
