The Australian government is nearing a deal with the United States to clear it's controversial offshore refugee camps, which have faced widespread criticism because of the treatment of asylum seekers who have not been let into Australia because of the nation's tight immigration policy. The deal with the U.S. would allow Central American refugees at U.S.-backed camps in Costa Rica to settle in Australia, and refugees from the Australian camps would be sent to the U.S. Pictured above are protesters in February 2016 of a court decision to deport asylum seekers already in Australia to one of its island camps. Photo by Dan Peled/European Press Agency
CANBERRA, Australia, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Australia and the United States are nearing a deal to help each other clear refugee centers they are operating outside their own borders, Australian officials said.
The Australian and U.S. refugee camps -- Australia has two in the Pacific islands and the United States has one in Costa Rica -- would be cleared under the deal by sending people seeking asylum in Australia to the United States, and those in Costa Rica trying to get to the United States would be sent to Australia.
Australia has had 1,800 refugees seeking asylum at camps in Nauru and Manus Island who have fled Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran and Sri Lanka. The camps have been controversial amid allegations, from refugees stuck on the islands and among Australians, that the refugees are not being treated humanely.
The refugees have not been granted asylum, and will not receive it, because of a tough border policy that bars asylum seekers from settling in Australia. Leaders in Australia have been negotiating with several nations to move the refugees for months and have stepped up efforts since a Papua New Guinea court ordered the Manus camp to close.
The deal to close Australia's refugee camps, which have existed for more than two decades, would allow the United States to close camps in Costa Rica filled with refugees fleeing violence in Central America, all of whom would be sent to Australia to settle there.
While the Obama administration has not commented on the negotiations, and proposed policies on refugees by the incoming Trump administration could complicate the deal if it is not finished quickly, those who run the Austrialian refugee centers say the solution sounds like it would work and hope it goes through.
"If there is a deal to resettle all of them safely, quickly, in America, in a country where they will in fact be safe and settled, that's our priority," said Kon Karapanagiotidis, chief executive of the Australian asylum seeker resource center. "The most important thing is that it's done quickly and urgently given the imminent danger and risk and the extreme poor state of physical and mental health of so many of them."
