Namah v Pato [2016] PGSC 13; SC1497
What was at stake
Legality of Australia's offshore detention of asylum seekers transferred to the Manus Island Regional Processing Centre under the Australia-PNG arrangement; right to personal liberty under s42 of the PNG Constitution.
What the court decided
Detention of the transferees was unconstitutional and illegal. The 2014 constitutional amendment purporting to authorise detention of foreign nationals under a bilateral arrangement was invalid. The Court ordered both governments to take immediate steps to end the detention; PNG announced the centre would close the next day.
Categories
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