The small pacific island nations of Papua New Guinea and Nauru host what many call Australia's offshore prisons for refugees. Labelled 'regional processing centres' by the Australian government, bilateral arrangements enable Australia's government to maintain power and control, but assume less responsibility for the refugees who are forced to live there. These offshore detention centres are home to around 1,500 asylum seekers who were taken into custody after entering Australian waters without visas. Many of them have been stuck there in limbo for more than three years. Both centres are run under secrecy, off-limits to the media and to NGOs like Amnesty International. So what's going on inside Are these prisons Australia's Guantanamo Bay Or a necessary deterrent, which helps to save the lives of refugees and allows Australia to run a 'generous' orderly programme of permanent refugee resettlement Australia's Immigration Minister Peter Dutton talks to Al Jazeera.
