Asylum seekers receive $73m settlement from Australian goverment

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Jun 15, 2017 06:00 am

SYDNEY Nearly 2,000 asylum seekers held in a remote detention centre in Papua New Guinea (PNG) for more than two years will receive A$70 million (S$73 million) in compensation, after the Australian government agreed to settle their court case yesterday.

About 1,900 men who were detained at the facility between November 2012 and December 2014 filed legal claims last year against the Australian government and two contractors who ran the camp on PNG's Manus Island.

The camp is one of two Australian facilities for processing asylum seekers that have attracted criticism from the UN and rights groups because of their harsh conditions and allegations of systemic abuse.

Lawyers representing the men said the Australian government and security companies G4S and Broadspectrum, now owned by Ferrovial, would collectively pay the compensation.

It will be distributed to the detainees according to the length of their detention and the severity of the injuries or illnesses they alleged they had suffered. - REUTERS