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Ex-SL military officer in charge of Manus detention centre

24 Feb 2014 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Human rights and asylum seeker advocates are condemning a decision to employ a former Sri Lankan military officer as the acting operations manager of the Manus Island detention centre.

The ABC has confirmed that Dinesh Perera has been running the facility for the G4S security company.

A spokesperson for the Minister for Immigration says Mr Perera is the acting G4S centre operations manager at the Manus Island offshore processing centre (OPC).

"Contracts with G4S, and other service providers at OPCs, contain clauses requiring that all personnel employed are, and remain, of good character, demonstrate good conduct, have all relevant Australian Federal Police clearance and are suitably trained to undertake roles," the spokesperson said.

"Any questions regarding Mr Perera’s employment should be referred to his company."

Sri Lanka's bitter civil war between the government and the separatist Tamil Tigers raged for more than two-and-a-half decades before ending in 2009.

The director of advocacy and research at the Human Rights Law centre, Emily Howie, says Mr Perera should be removed.

"It's completely inappropriate for anyone with links to the Sri Lankan military to be in charge of the welfare and well-being of vulnerable asylum seekers, including Tamils," Ms Howie said.

"There's a high likelihood that the Tamils being held there are fleeing persecution at the hands of the Sri Lankan military.

"This isn't about the activities of this one man. It's about [the] way that Australia takes care of the asylum seekers who are in its custody.

"The placing of an ex-military commander from a source country for refugees like Sri Lanka highlights Australia's complete insensitivity to the very real risks and suffering that those asylum seekers are fleeing."

Activists say there are now about 30 ethnic Tamil Sri Lankan asylum seekers being detained at the camp, out of a total of about 1,300.

Following a tip-off from information activist Asher Wolf, the ABC contacted Mr Perera, who confirmed that he was currently the acting manager of the Manus facility.

He also confirmed that he had served as an officer in the Sri Lankan military.

Mr Perera refused to comment any further.

His page on the LinkedIn website says he has "proven track records of operational command experience during employment of offshore detention services and security environment as a Company Commander in the Sri Lankan Army".

The page also says Mr Perera has experience in correctional services facilities in Victoria and New South Wales.

The Refugee Action Coalition's Ian Rintoul says there are international concerns about the role the Sri Lankan army played in the recent civil war in the country.

"I don't really think having a former Sri Lankan army commander running the detention camp where you've got Sri Lankan asylum seekers is appropriate," he said.

"It's not to say he's done anything inappropriate, but he would have access to all those records. He would have access to their details and those details could be so easily passed on with terrible consequences for other people left behind in Sri Lanka."

The contract to provide garrison and welfare services for another 20 months has just been formally awarded to Transfield Services, which has been providing garrison services to the Nauru detention facility for the past year.

Transfield will subcontract security services on Manus Island to Wilson Security.

Transfield Services says Mr Perera is not employed by them or by Wilson Security, and that he is not on their list of people who have applied for new positions. (ABC)

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Ex-SL military officer in charge of Manus detention centre

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