Remove asylum seekers, says church group

A CHURCH group is requesting Prime Minister Peter O’Neill to set Australia a deadline to remove all refugees and asylum seekers from PNG.
General secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of PNG and Solomon Islands Reverend Father Giorgio Licini wrote to O’Neill last Friday asking him to tell his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison to end all offshore processing of asylum seekers in PNG – within 60 days.
He also called for the immediate transfer of 20 refugees from the Pacific International Hospital in Port Moresby to Australia to be treated for various medical ailments.
He said the hospital and country’s health system in general could not cope with these types of diseases.
“The refugees are prevented by their status from seeking independent and autonomous medical attention elsewhere, hence, without the decision to demand the Australian prime minister, the mentally impaired people at the Manus detention centre will continue grow
by the dozen in the next few weeks and months,” Licini said in the letter.
“In my recent visits to Lorengau in Manus and the PIH, I have been very saddened to see these people live with desperation for freedom and a better life, and due to depression and hopelessness, self-harm and attempted suicide has now practically become a daily occurrence.”
Licini said Australia has already achieved its objective of “stopping the boats” by detaining these asylum seekers on Manus Island.
But they have not processed the status of the refugees to begin lives elsewhere.