UNHCR criticises Govt over Manus Island

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights has again attacked the Australian Government over "harsh" conditions at Manus Island immigration processing centre.

In a report published today, the international body said progress had been made since a similar review in January, including the transfer of children and their families back to Australia.

But life in the tent camps on the remote Pacific island remains harsh for single men who are accommodated in canvas tents housing four to six people at a time.

Many are in need of repair and become extremely hot in the unrelenting tropical climate, the report notes.

UNHCR officers visited the camps from June 11 to 13 following an inspection earlier this year.

Asylum seekers raised concerns with officers about hygiene at the toilet blocks in the camp.

Families housed in dongas next door to the single men's "tent city" raised concerns about the "close proximity of the children and young women to the single adult males, children hearing angry outbursts, fighting and other frightening sounds from the single adult male compound, and young women feeling threatened by the close presence of so many single adult men."

The agency has recommended more freedom of movement and clarity for asylum seekers on the status of their application for refugee status.

"The lack of certainty of asylum-seekers' future and the slow pace of progress to establish effective processing arrangements is contributing to an all-pervasive sense of frustration and despondency which, if left unresolved for a protracted period, is likely to lead to increased levels of psycho-social harm of those affected," UNHCR spokesman Ben Farrell said in a statement today.

The report calls for the same processing regime to apply to all asylum-seekers regardless of where they are from or their mode of arrival in PNG.

Federal Immigration Minister Tony Burke has been contacted for comment.