The Sydney Morning Herald Detainees struck down by malaria Date: 22/12/2001
By Andrew Clennell and AAP Five boat people the Government is housing on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea as part of its so-called Pacific solution have been diagnosed with malaria. A spokesman for the Immigration Minister, Philip Ruddock, confirmed yesterday that five people reportedly had the disease. His comments follow reports from Sydney's Iraqi community of malaria on the army base, where more than 225 people have been housed. Amnesty International said yesterday it had heard unconfirmed reports that anti-malaria tablets had been provided to asylum seekers in the camp but these were given too late to be of use. Amnesty's refugee co-ordinator, Graham Thom, said the cases highlighted why asylum seekers heading for Australia should not be sent to Pacific islands for processing. "[The choice of] PNG or Manus Island with [its associations with] malaria is something we did express concern about," Mr Thom said. "The minister has started essentially saying in regards to the Pacific solution that these people are safe and secure. "Our comment was 'Well, in parts of these countries you're sending them to have diseases like malaria'. The fact people have now contracted this disease should not be a surprise." But Mr Ruddock's spokesman would not concede that the malaria had necessarily been contracted on the island. "It's not clear where or when the people contracted it," he said. "We have certainly had cases of malaria amongst people arriving on the mainland. Whether they picked it up in Indonesia or Manus we're just not clear." The spokesman said "preventative medication" and insect repellent were available to the asylum seekers if they wanted it. The Manus Island camp contains the boatload of asylum seekers claimed by the Government - apparently wrongly - to have thrown children overboard. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which runs the camp, has refused to pass on questions about the allegations to the asylum seekers. After agreeing to accept a fax with questions, the IOM's officer on the island, Steve Hamilton, said the questions regarding whether children were thrown overboard were too sensitive. He said the detainees had access to satellite television and had seen the reports, and he did not feel going over the issue with them was appropriate. Mr Ruddock's spokesman said it would be some time before Australian immigration officials processing the refugee claims reached their decisions. He said decisions for the more than 700 asylum seekers on Nauru were expected to be made before those on Manus. Mr Ruddock said yesterday that an Indonesian boat carrying about 160 suspected asylum seekers was turned back to Indonesia this week after it was intercepted north of Ashmore Reef. This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited. http://www.smh.com.au/news/0112/22/text/national9.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/ until 11 March, 2001 and Recoznettwo is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznettwo%40green.net.au/ from that date. This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use."
