Lawyers acting for hundreds of asylum seekers at the Manus Island detention centre are launching a High Court bid that could result in their transfer to Australia.
Solicitor Matthew Byrne told AAP the legal team was also seeking an urgent injunction to prevent their 757 male clients being sent to Nauru after Papua New Guinea closes the centre to abide by a domestic court ruling.
The Australian case will argue there had been violations of human rights, and seek compensation for the men.
A spokesman for the High Court said the legal action revived an existing case.
The matter has not yet been listed.
Officials from Australia and PNG are still working on a plan to deal with the centre's closure and the fate of asylum seekers there.
The United Nations has called on the Australian government to urgently move asylum seekers on Nauru to more humane conditions.
The UN's refugee agency made the plea after the death of an Iranian asylum seeker from fatal burns on the Pacific island nation.
The UNHCR says it says it is saddened by last week's incident, and is also seeking information about another incident on Nauru in which a Somali woman suffered serious burns.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton says while the government doesn't want to see people self harming, he's defended its policies.
"We have dozens of health workers working on Nauru at the moment, including mental health workers and including support people who are spreading support to refugees and to people on Nauru to try and provide them with support, but to deliver a very clear message and that is they are not going to settle in our country. We are not going to tolerate a situation which allows people smugglers to get back into business."
Amensty International's refugee coordinator Graham Thom (Tom) says Australia's approached to handling refugees and asylum seekers is "schziophrenic".
He's criticising the government after a Somali woman set herself on fire on the detention island of Nauru, and believes the incident was avoidable.
He says Australia needs to stop forcing people back to unsuitable and unsafe living conditions.
Dr Thom the country already has measures in place that aren't costly and damaging, and there's a need to treat the world's refugees and asylum seekers who do chose to come to Australia in a consistent way.
"When we're talking about 2000 people amongst that who Australia has responsibility for let's start by bringing them to a place of safety and processing them in the same way that we process anybody else who arrives here seeking protection. I mean they shouldn't be treated any differently to the ohter 30,000 that we're about to process who arrive by boat some years prior, or anybody else who arrives by plane tomorrow seeking protection."
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巴新关闭马努斯岛羁留中心成澳政府难题
