Australia agrees to close detention center on PNG

Leaked documents have detailed 2,000 incidents of sexual abuse and assaults

Australia and Papua New Guinea said on Thursday that they had agreed to close a controversial Australian-funded asylum seeker detention center on Manus Island, although the ultimate fate of 800 refugees held in the camp remained unclear.

Under Australian law, anyone intercepted trying to reach the country by boat is sent for processing to camps on the tiny Pacific island of Nauru or to Manus Island off Papua New Guinea. They are never eligible to be resettled in Australia.