THE UNITED Nations has demanded that Australia take responsibility for the refugees that it had locked up in Papua New Guinea, who are now stuck there without essential services following the closure of the immigration prison.

Rico Salcedo, a regional protection officer at refugee agency UNHCR, said that he had just returned from Australia’s so-called regional processing centre on Manus Island and “what stood out the most … was a pervasive and worsening sense of despair among refugees and asylum-seekers.”

There was “a sense of desolation” with many “staying in the rooms, not going out, and not meeting and talking with others around them.

Australia has taken 3,000 refugees by force to its foreign prisons in Papua New Guinea and Nauru since 2013. About 1,200 have been taken in by the US but 500 people are stuck in shipping-container prisons on Manus Island, where the camp was formally closed at the end of October 2017.

“It was evident again … after more than 100 days … that the need for greater mental health support, emergency medical care and specialised torture and trauma counselling remains critical and unmet,” Mr Salcedo said.

“Clearly, much more needs to be done to bring the circumstances of refugees and asylum-seekers on Manus Island up to a basic minimum standard.”

But while what little services are available on Manus are provided by Australian privateers, the government has quit.

“We cannot emphasise enough that solutions must be found for all, outside of Papua New Guinea, as a matter of urgency,” Mr Salcedo said.

“Australia remains ultimately responsible, as the state from which these refugees and asylum-seekers have sought international protection, for their welfare and long-term settlement outside of Papua New Guinea.”