Manus violence: children could have been present during rioting

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/21/manus-violence-children-present-during-rioting

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Children could have been present inside the Manus Island detention centre during the two nights of rioting that saw one asylum seeker killed, another shot and dozens injured.

At least two asylum seekers held on Manus Island had declared themselves unaccompanied minors, according to two contractors who spoke to Guardian Australia independently. Both asylum seekers were present on Manus Island one day before the rioting occurred, but were being held among the adult population.

One of the asylum seekers was a Somalian who claimed to be 15 years old, the other was an Iraqi who is understood to have abandoned his claim after he was unable to source his birth certificate, and had planned to voluntarily return.

One contractor, who left Manus Island a day before the riot, said as many as five detainees who remained in the detention centre had claimed unaccompanied minor status.

Both the Somali and Iraqi asylum seekers were being held in Delta compound, a part of the centre understood not to be primarily affected by the rioting. It is understood that staff had been instructed to speak to the Somali boy every day to check his welfare.

In November a Guardian Australia investigation revealed two unaccompanied minors had been held on Manus Island for months after a processing error had led to their transfer. The two boys were isolated in a small room and not allowed out. The immigration minister, Scott Morrison, initially denied the boys were on the island but was forced to issue a retraction and ordered their immediate return.

One of those boys, who turned 18 just three months ago, was subsequently returned to Manus Island and detained in Mike compound, where the heaviest rioting occurred.

Morrison has repeatedly stated Manus Island is not an appropriate facility for children.

Under the Coalition government’s new 48-hour turnaround target, asylum seekers who arrive on Christmas Island are usually transferred to offshore detention within two days. This target has been criticised by medical experts, with a letter signed by 15 doctors on Christmas Island saying some asylum seekers would be seen by a doctor for about five minutes.

The discovery of the two children on Manus Island in November led experts who constructed the age verification process of asylum seekers, which used psycho-social cognitive tests to determine contested ages, to deduce these tests had slipped.

A document seen by Guardian Australia from Manus Island highlights that any asylum seeker who claims they are an unaccompanied minor must produce documentary evidence of a birth certificate to prove their age, indicating that age verification tests are not conducted on Manus.

At a press conference on Friday Morrison said that, to his knowledge, there were no minors on Manus at the time of the riot.

“It is not the policy of the government for minors to be on Manus Island, where minors have been identified in the past, they’ve been promptly removed, and to my knowledge there are no minors on Manus island because that is not the policy of this government,” he said.