Refugee Issue
UN calls on PNG to resettle refugees
By ABC Radio Australia
Jan 5, 2008, 23:12

1) UN calls on PNG to resettle refugees
2) PNG police to move Papuan refugees
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1) UN calls on PNG to resettle refugees
ABC Radio Australia
Last Updated 04/01/2008, 18:00:54



The United Nation's refugee agency has urged Papua New Guinea to resettle 100 refugees from the Indonesian province of Papua, now living in the country.

Police in the capital, Port Moresby, have threatened to evict over 100 refugees, who have been living at the Boroko police station since October.

They were moved to the police station because of fears of retaliation after two of the refugees allegedly killed a senior magistrate.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokeswoman in Australia says the PNG government should take responsibility in resettling them.

''We appreciate the temporary accommodation provided by the police," she says

"But we also recognise that this is not a long term solution. And we urge the government of Papua New Guinea to find a clear solution and we stand ready to assist.".

PNG hosts a total of nearly 3,000 refugees from Papua.
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2) PNG police to move Papuan refugees
RNZIPosted at 05:54 on 04 January, 2008 UTC

The more than 140 Papuan refugees from Indonesia who camped outside the Port Moresby police station in Papua New Guinea for 10 weeks have been threatened with eviction by the city’s police chief.

The Papuan families were moved to a cramped compound within Boroko Police Station in October following the stoning to death of a PNG magistrate who crashed his car into their makeshift camp on a city traffic island.

The group had camped on the island outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office after they were evicted from 8 Mile settlement outside the PNG capital in September.

Four young men from the Papuan group are in custody and charged with the murder of 55-year-old Chief Magistrate Ivo Cappo.

The 141 others in the Papuan group, including 38 children, are refusing to move back to 8 Mile where older members settled after fleeing Indonesian Papua more than 20 years ago.

The group is also refusing to move to the remote East Awin refugee camp in PNG’s Western Province.

But Metropolitan Police Superintendent Fred Yakasa has threatened to move the Papuans back to the UNHCR office unless government authorities and the UN agency come up with a solution.


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