A human rights group says the 70 people removed from the Manus Island detention centre will now hopefully have their claims as refugees processed.
Amnesty International says it welcomes the decision of the Australian and Papua New Guinea governments to relocate the family groups with children to Christmas Island.
Kate Schuetze, the Pacific researcher for Amnesty International says she hopes there are better conditions in the Australian processing centre.
She says the government of PNG has the responsibility to protect the human rights of asylum seekers, but Australia is just as responsible for their care.
"Detention is no place for children. At the moment they've been moved to Christmas Island which is skill a form of detention but hopefully with much better conditions than what they were experiencing on Manus Island. And hopefully it also means that steps will be taken immediately to start processing their claims of asylum which hasn't started in Papua New Guinea as yet."
Kate Schuetze from Amnesty International.
