Tuesday, 15 February 2011
Hot, dusty, remote location should not be used to detain children
The Australian Human Rights Commission says it is seriously concerned about the impacts of prolonged and indefinite detention in remote locations, particularly on children, in a summary report to be released today.
The summary report, 2011 Immigration detention in Leonora, outlines observations from the Commission’s November visit to the Leonora immigration detention facility in outback Western Australia, which houses families and children.
“Once again the Commission is seriously concerned about children in detention who have limited access to the basics necessary for their healthy psychological and physical development,” Commission President Catherine Branson QC said.
“The Commission acknowledges the efforts of staff at the Leonora detention facility, who are working in challenging conditions. However the hot, dusty and harsh physical environment of the facility makes it inappropriate for children.”
The Commission was also concerned that health services such as dental and specialist medical care were a 230 kilometre drive away in Kalgoorlie.
“The conditions in the facility highlight the need for the government to act as quickly as possible to implement its initiative of moving some families and unaccompanied minors into community detention. This should be reinforced by changes to ensure that in future, children will not be detained in the first place unless it is truly a measure of last resort.”
The Commission’s concerns about conditions in immigration detention facilities have increased as more people are being held in detention for longer periods of time.
“The Commission has repeatedly raised concerns about the serious impacts that prolonged detention can have on people’s mental health and this is even more concerning when coupled with limited access to mental health services in small, remote locations,” Ms Branson said.“There are more than 6500 people in immigration detention across Australia, including more than 1000 minors. As of late January, more than 3500 of those people had been detained for longer than six months.”
Australia’s system of mandatory and indefinite immigration detention was among key concerns raised by the international community during the recent United Nations Universal Periodic Review of Australia’s human rights record.
“It is becoming more urgent for the Australian Government to reconsider the current system of mandatory detention without set time limits. People should only be held in immigration detention if they are individually assessed as posing a risk that justifies detaining them,” Ms Branson said. “If no such risk exists, they should be allowed to reside in community-based alternatives to detention while their refugee claims are assessed.”
The Commission’s summary report will be available later this morning at http://www.humanrights.gov.au/human_rights/immigration/idc2011_leonora.html.
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Media contact: Louise McDermott (02) 9284 9851 or 0419 258 597
