A report has found refugees in Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island are effectively living in island detention.
Immigration authorities recently allowed representatives from two human rights organisations to visit the transit centre built for those granted refugee status.
There are 40 men living at the centre who are waiting to be resettled in other parts of PNG.
But the Australia director of Human Rights Watch, Elaine Pearson, says in the meantime those men are still trapped on the island.
“They’ve been living there in limbo without the ability to leave Manus Island so effectively an island detention and without the ability to work. And so we really think you know two years in long enough, these people should be allowed to move on with their lives.”
Elaine Pearson says the PNG Government says it is still drafting a resettlement policy, which must be in place before people can be moved to other parts of the country.