A refugee about to enter his sixth year on Manus Island has been nominated for a global human rights award, alongside people from Turkey and Colombia.
Abdul Aziz Muhamat, a Sudanese-born refugee and advocate stuck on the Papua New Guinea island since October 2013, was on Wednesday announced as a finalist for the 2019 Martin Ennals Award.
The award honours those who demonstrate a deep commitment to human rights - often under duress.
Past laureates, selected by Human Rights Watch and nine other leading human rights organisations, come from countries including Russia, Egypt and China.
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre detention advocacy manager Natasha Blucher said Mr Muhamat was an "amazing and skilled" advocate who selflessly helps other men on Manus access legal assistance or manage mental health issues.
"We've had situations where he and a case worker on the phone are talking down a man with imminent plans to suicide," she told AAP.
"He would be an absolute asset for Australia and could do my job 10 times over with his eyes closed but he has no freedom simply because of the way he arrived."
Mr Muhamat said the "extraordinary" nomination was an honour and a lot of other men on Manus Island deserved to be in line for the award too.
"This is one of the longest journeys of my life," he told AAP.
"We have seen the other face of Australia, which is what we could have never expected.
"We have seen a country that doesn't respect international or human rights laws and traumatises refugees."
He said he didn't expect the nomination would change policy but he hoped it would add some pressure on the government to find a permanent home for those currently on Manus and Nauru.
Also up for the prize are Eren Keskin, a lawyer and newspaper editor jailed for publishing articles deemed to have "insulted" President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Marino Cordoba Berrio, an advocate for ethnic communities in Colombia.
The laureate of the award, named in honour of a past secretary-general of Amnesty International, will be announced at a ceremony in Geneva in February.
