Student activist exile in PNG selected for human rights award

ABDUL Aziz Muhamat is a student activist from Darfur in Sudan had fled to the capital Khartoum, got into trouble and fled again to Australia seeking asylum. Muhamat has been advocating for the hundreds of men who are living in horrid, punitive conditions on the Manus Island Detention Centre in Papua New Guinea. He does this through the skillful use of social media and podcasts.

Director of the Martin Ennals Foundation Inc, Michael Khambatta, said Muhamat keeps things peaceful and he has been a voice to the wider world, particularly to Australia on the impact and consequences.

“The real thing that he highlights is not so much the actual conditions of the refugee camp in PNG but the fact that they have nowhere to go and they have no future,” Khambatta said.

He was amongst two others from Turkey and Colombia had been shortlisted and nominated for the finals into awarding of human rights awards by Martin Ennals Foundation.

The winners will receive a cash prize of $30,000. The two runners-up will receive $10,000 each.

Australian politicians detained refugees indefinely on Manus and Nauru to win votes by showing they are tough on immigration. - Via Garamut News.

Colombian LO exile in PNG chosen for human rights award

A Colombian landowner, Marino Cordoba Berrio, who is a member of the Afro-Colombian ethnic group, currently a refugee in Papua New Guinea on the Manus Island has been nominated for the human rights award together with two refugees from Turkey and Sudan respectively. 

Director of the Martin Ennals Foundation Inc, Michael Khambatta, said Berrio has been fighting for his people’s rights over ownership of their land.

Berrio has been faced with threads and attacks from powerful landowners interested in exploring the land for commercial logging and mining.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michele Bachelet will announce the laureate of the Martin Ennals Award on the February 13th, 2019. - Via Garamut News.

Activist lawyer exile in PNG makes to the final for human rights award

A female lawyer and human rights activist from Turkey Ms Eren Keskin now a refugee in Manus Island, Papua New Guinea (PNG) was shortlisted for the finals into the 2019 Martin Ennals Human Rights Award.

Ten (10) leading human rights organizations around the world have chosen Eren Keskin together with two (2) others from Colombia and Sudan respectively, who are also refugees in Manus, PNG for being human rights defenders.

Keskin was imprisoned in August 2016 as part of a national sweep one month after an attempted coup against the President of Turkey. She was the editor-in-chief of a newspaper that dealt with Kurdish issues. She was held responsible for many of the published articles and was given a 12-one-half-year sentence which is currently under appeal.

Keskin has worked on women’s issues – everything from sexual assault in prison (created an organization), on LGBTI issues, Kurdish issues and Armenian genocide. These four issues have been her priorities since 1996.

The award honors Martin Ennals, Amnesty International’s secretary-general from 1968 to 1980. - Via Garamut News.

PNG’s Highest Court rejects refugee’s compo claims

PNG’ s supreme court in Port Moresby has rejected a petition by a group of refugees and asylum seekers that would have given them the right to sue for compensation. 

Through their lawyer Ben Lomai, the 368 men from Manus Detention Centre were seeking the right to apply for PNG travel documents, which would allow them to resettle in other countries of their choice.

The case was dismissed on technical grounds, as the Supreme Court said it was a compensation matter that would have been handled by the National Court.

“The legal case was not necessarily over because we are yet to study the judgment,” Plaintiffs’ lawyer Ben Lomai said.

The refugees and asylum seekers on Manus Island together with those on Nauru are hoping to hear the possibilities of resettling from the Australian politicians. – Via Garamut News.