Manus

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull last year announced two deals between the US and Australia, with the latter resettling refugees from Costa Rica while the US took in refugees from Manus Island and Nauru.

Behrouz Boochani is detained on Canberra's offshore detention centre in Papua New Guinea, where he has been found to be a refugee.

But under Australian law, since he tried to reach Australia by boat as an asylum seeker he will never be resettled there.

In their letter to the Australian immigraiton minister Peter Dutton, the group says Mr Boochani has worked greatly to preserve Kurdish culture and language, including during his detention.

It says Mr Boochani faces imminent danger should he be returned to Iran, and his claim should be immediately heard in Australia.

UNHCR's regional representative Thomas Albrecht said Australia should offer protection and respect to people arriving by boat.

He said the basic human right of every person to seek asylum from persecution is not diminished by their mode of arrival.

Mr Albrecht said those forced to flee persecution need and deserve conducive conditions of protection, and a sustainable long-term solution.

Meanwhile, the Australia-based Human Rights Law Centre says Canberra's proposed ban could affect 320 refugees already living there.

Wilson Security's decision follows the announcement by the service provider, Broadspectrum, earlier this year that

As protests at the other Australian-run detention centre on Nauru enter day 56, those in the Manus Island centre have holding signs and chanting "Freedom, Freedom" and "This place is illegal".

The centre in PNG was ruled unconstitutional by the country's Supreme Court, prompting the Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill, to vow to close it.

However the Australian authorities said this might take some time and repeated that the refugees and asylum seekers would never go to Australia.