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Submission to the National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention from

The Association of Children's Welfare Agencies (ACWA)

Terms of reference 1

Terms of reference 2

Terms of reference 3

Conclusions

Dear Dr Ozdowski,

I am pleased to present herewith a submission on behalf of the Association of Childrens Welfare Agencies, addressing key issues for the Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention.

The Association and its members have been gravely concerned for some time now about the plight of asylum seekers and refugee children in detention. We look forward to the vital issues of human rights, education, physical and psychological well being and general welfare of these children being addressed in the Inquiry's work.

Yours sincerely,

Nigel Spence
CEO
Association of Childrens Welfare Agencies
Locked bag 13
Haymarket NSW 1240
9281 8822
acwa@acwa.asn.au

 

Term of reference 1:

The provision made by Australia to implement its international human rights obligations regarding child asylum seekers including unaccompanied minors.

Australia is a signatory to and has ratified the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, The 1951 Refugee Convention as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel and Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Australia under the present Federal Liberal Government and the former Labor Government has made it clear that the protection of National Borders and the deterrence of so called "people smuggling" is its primary concern in relation to the Immigration Policy regarding refugees. This approach is resulting in practices which contravene the rights of children in detention centres.

Australia's Immigration Policy contradicts many of the International Treaties to which it is a signatory. Successive Federal Governments have sought to argue the position of 'National Interest' and the enforcement of Federal Statutory Law over international convention obligations.

The impact of this position has been devastating for the hundreds of people seeking asylum in Australia in recent years particularly children. Indeed the position of the government has been to adopt an increasingly hard line approach in the face of international criticism and independent inquiries into its policies. One of the most devastating impacts of these draconian policies has been the psycho-social trauma inflicted on refugee children under the mandatory detention regime throughout Australia.

Until recently it was impossible to obtain accurate numbers of minors (children under 18yrs of age) Some progress in this regard has been make recently with regular updates on the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA) website. However these figures do not take into account the number of children being held in camps off shore under Australia's "Pacific Solution Policy".

Children are not told of their rights to legal representation, nor of the process of application. For unaccompanied children their experience of detention is even more terrifying and the process of application bewildering. "DIMA officers are not permitted to give arrivals information about their right to legal assistance, on an interpretation of Section 256 of the Migration Act" (Rayner 2001)

Many of the unaccompanied children are currently detained in some of the most remote locations in Australia - in detention centres in Woomera, Port Hedland and Curtin. There is little access to regular or special services which children require and minimal access to advocates who can support these children and provide them with information on their rights in such isolated areas. Specifically a situation has been highlighted of 12 unaccompanied children in Woomera Detention Centre who have been screened out of the application process in relation to their asylum claims because they did not utter the appropriate words on their first interview with immigration officials

…I am seeking asylum as a result of persecution… These children languish in detention indefinitely because there is no case to process and no diplomatic ties with their home country as an avenue for deportation.

A further concern and contravention of human rights occurs when refugee children arrive accompanied by family members and then become separated from these protective adults at the hands of Australian authorities. Specifically there have been incidents where the parents of these children have been charged with inciting unrest in the detention centres and have been sent to another part of the detention centre for a period of isolation out of contact from their children. This is made worse for some children when their parents have been transferred to prisons within the criminal justice system awaiting criminal proceedings leaving the children vulnerable and unprotected. Some of these unaccompanied children have recently been released into the care and protection of the South Australian Government and are residing in foster care situations according to recent reports from DIMA. It is unclear however what the status of these children is. The long term prospects for reuniting them with family in Australia is doubtful given the current policy of family reunion for refugees. In September 2001 the law was changed so that "boat people" who are recognised as genuine refugees can never acquire permanent resident status and can never bring their families to Australia to join them.

The serious concerns highlighted above represent an appalling abuse of human rights and contravenes Australia's obligations under international conventions. Specifically Australia is in breach of:

There is a disturbing lack of intervention on the part of State Child Protection Authorities to intervene in the cases of reported abuse. The reasons for this would seem to be complicated and varied however this does not belie the fact that were these children Australian Nationals they would be provided with care and protection under appropriate state and territory legislation.

Term of reference 2:

The mandatory detention of child asylum seekers and other children arriving in Australia without visas, and alternatives to detention.

It is the unequivocal position of ACWA that the detention of child asylum seekers is an unacceptable form of care. Community based care is widely accepted as being a necessary condition for children to achieve normal development. The outcomes for children in terms of recovery from trauma are much higher when they are placed in caring community environments under the protective care of family members or with kinship and cultural groups the same as their own.

The detention centre environment by its very nature re-traumatises already extremely vulnerable children and young people. These children do not have the resilience to withstand such circumstances, nor should they have to, under Australia's international human rights obligations as outlined earlier.

The nature of Australia's detention centres puts refugee children at grave risk of physical, emotional, sexual abuse and neglect. The environment is a mix of highly traumatised and stressed individuals from widely varied communities, ethnicities, and religions; some of which are in conflict with each other. Family groups are not separated from single adult males and no aspect of detention centre operations are child focused. Staff in detention centres are not trained in the care and protection of children. Detention centres are operated on a corrective services model (a model similar to prisons). Australian Correctional Management (ACM) staff are referred to as "guards", their primary role being the maintenance of security not the promotion of the wellbeing of detainees.

An investigation of the Villawood detention centre by the NSW Child Protection Council as far back as 1993 the Council concluded that conditions under which the asylum seekers were being held were detrimental to their well being and particularly damaging to the physical and psychological health and development of the children and young people. Among other things the Council called for the children and their parents who were in detention to be immediately released into the community while their applications for asylum were being processed. (Rogers, 2002.)

The stress of such conditions and the maltreatment of detainees by the guards often lead to acts of violence and self harm by groups and individuals. Hunger strikes, suicide attempts and actual suicide are not uncommon. Violent outbursts occur frequently between guards and detainees as well as among detainees. Riots are common place as the frustration of the visa processing system takes its toll. The children are witnesses to all of this with increasing frequency over long periods of time. The impact is devastating! Children become involved in the rioting as an outlet for their frustration and boredom. They are unable to sleep and many refuse to eat. The parent child trust is broken as children become aware that parents are powerless to improve their situation and their right to parent has been taken from them.

A major stressor for children in detention is the experience of threat to their attachment relationships. These children live with the fear of abandonment and loss of attachment figures and some experience their traumatised parents' withdrawal as rejection. (Newman 2002)

ACWA rejects the Government's view that there is no reasonable alternative to detention centres. For children and families there are now established programs in every state and territory which can provide the model for alternative and supportive forms of care while applications for asylum and refugee status are being processed. Furthermore many ACWA member agencies and equivalent organisations in other states and territories have indicated their willingness to provide accommodation and support for refugee children and families.

Term of reference 3:

The adequacy and effectiveness of the policies, agreements, laws, rules and practices governing children in Immigration detention or child asylum seekers and refugees residing in the community after a period of detention with particular reference to:

The conditions under which children are detained

Placing children in detention in prison like conditions with other extremely traumatized individuals from a variety of cultural backgrounds and religious beliefs places an enormous amount of psychological and physical stress on them. They are extremely vulnerable to abuse and have very few resources in this environment to protect themselves, nor do they have appropriate levels of protection from significant adults who become detached and demoralised due to their own high levels of anxiety and trauma.

Regular musters are part of everyday life in the detention centres. Orders are issued from a loud speaker and the practice or referring to detainees by number rather than by name is wide spread. Rooms are frequently searched at random and checks are often done in the middle of the night involving guards, stripping back bed clothes and shining torches in the faces of the detainees. This is a terrifying experience for children who are at their most vulnerable when they are asleep in bed.

The risks of abuse to children are much higher when people who are traumatised and have suffered torture are forced to be detained for lengthy periods of time in over crowded Centres without basic community resources and the freedom to access these.

Levels of stress are critical in the normal brain development of infants and children. High levels of circulating stress hormones such as cortisol can adversely affect brain development and cause neuronal death. Infants and young children are developing stress regulation systems and are not able to protect themselves in the same manner as adults. Severe and chronic stress in the early years will affect the stress system itself and result in ongoing vulnerability to later stressful events. (Newman 2002)

Health Care

The special health care needs of children are not considered to be of sufficient importance in Australia's detention centres. Although all refugees undergo health checks on arrival into Australia there is no consistent ongoing monitoring of paediatric health. In Villawood detention centre eight nurses are on shift around the clock however none have any paediatric experience and there is no resident paediatrician. A similar lack of health care facilities most exists in Port Hedland, Woomera and the other centres. That refugee children cannot be provided with adequate and appropriate health care stands as a gross violation of children's human rights in a country as medically advanced as Australia.

Patricia Ravelico from the St Vincent De Paul Society is a regular visitor at the Villawood detention centre. She has advised that it took over 24 hours for a doctor to attend to a life threatening medical emergency in the detention centre. This incident occurred early in 2001. In a much more recent incident at Villawood Detention Centre it took 4 days for a breast feeding mother with severe symptoms of Post Natal Depression to be seen by appropriate medical staff. It was only after much lobbying by concerned individuals that this woman was transferred to a public hospital for appropriate medical care. (Personal communication with detention centre advocates February 2001)

Another example of the dangerous inadequacy of health care is of a mother in the Woomera detention centre. This woman alleges that she was taken alone from the detention centre to a hospital a few hundred kilometres away when she was in her 38th week of pregnancy and was subjected to an involuntary caesarean section. She has since had great difficulties in bonding with her new baby and suffers from severe depression.

The nutritional and dietary requirements of infants and children are not taken into account when meals are prepared in the detention centres. The quality of these meals varies at the discretion of ACM. There is no food prepared specifically for infants or toddlers. One detainee has advised that whilst detained in Port Hedland some of the detainees complained that all they got to eat was rice and they made a request for some cucumbers and tomatoes. The detainee was told that a letter was needed from the doctor before these special foods would be given out. (Personal communication with detainees September 2001)

In one of the centres a mother asked for milk for her baby who was in the process of being weened and she was told to use reconstituted soup. In Villawood detention centre the last meal of the day is served at 4:30pm. Many children refuse to eat at this time especially in the summer months due to the heat. Families are not permitted to carry food back to their rooms because of problems with vermin. It is essential for the health and well being of all young children that they have access to food and drinks 24hrs a day. Nursing mothers also require access to nourishing food at all times however this is denied.

Mental Health

The incarceration of refugee children has a devastating impact on their mental health. Many children are presenting with symptoms of extreme withdrawal, depression and sleeplessness. The depression of some children is so severe that they have become mute particularly after witnessing violence and self harming behaviours of other detainees. Detainee parents have reported that the children lack concentration. Others have reported that the attention span of many of the children is extremely limited. They often regress in their developmental milestones after long periods in detention. Many children report nightmares and night terrors associated with past and present trauma and bed wetting is also common even in older children of 11 and 12yrs of age. ( Prof Zachary Steele and Dr Aamer Sultan interview and personal communication September 2001

There are grave implications for these children with exposure to extreme trauma on development and later mental health. Mental health services to detention centres are inadequate and there is little opportunity for early identification of children in distress or provision of appropriate interventions. The situation for children in the detention centres has the potential for producing long term emotional damage. There are clear intervention strategies based on the principles of strengthening children's attachment relationships and reducing trauma exposure that should be implemented. (Newman, 2002)

The federal government's own mental health strategy is at odds with the policy and practice of the Department of Immigration in relation to the mental health of refugees in Australia.

Actions that affect mental health occur at all levels: international national regional local community, employment financial corrections and the media. Public policies at all these levels and in all these sectors impact on mental health. [….] The influences on mental health are so pervasive that most public policies will have some impact on mental health. It is important that the mental health consequences of policies are explicitly considered and that policy makers at all levels accept responsibility for the consequences of their decisions. […] The second major principle for the development of public policy that promotes mental health is that the impact of policy made in one sector must be considered within other sectors. All aspects of life are inextricably interlinked and policies made in one sector can have far-reaching implications. in others. (Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care 2000 p36 &40.)

Separation

Unaccompanied and separated adolescents may find themselves in situations of great responsibility for themselves and others. They may be difficult to place in foster families and moreover may be part of child-headed households assuming responsibility for younger children. (UNHCR 2000)

Refugee children experience the trauma of separation from parents and family members. Moreover they may have witnessed the torture and slaying of parents and siblings or may have been separated from their families while fleeing from war. Children cannot begin to grieve for these losses in a normal manner whilst being incarcerated in detention without a secure future. Younger children have little comprehension of why they are being detained and their developmental sense of time means that they experience the detention period to be far longer than adults.

Trish Highfield, from the Social Justice in Early Childhood Group and a regular visitor to Villawood Detention centre told of the sad situation of children forming friendships with other children in the detention centres only to experience the trauma of separation when their friends are either deported, released or transferred to another detention centre. These children will often act out their frustration and confusion with sudden bouts of anger and aggression. Because of the situation that parents have to deal with they very rarely have the resources to help their children to deal with these losses. The parents themselves are also grieving and are in a state of limbo, not knowing what will happen to them. (Personal communication between May 2001 and April 2002)

Sexual exploitation

Sexual violence, exploitation and abuse are strongly associated with situations of forced population movement. Adolescent girls are particularly at risk of sexual violence for a range or reasons including their size and vulnerability. Boys are also victims of sexual violence. (UNHCR 2000) The Australian press has brought to public attention multiple cases of children allegedly being sexually exploited and abused in refugee detention centres particularly those situated in the Central and Western Australia. (The Australian, 15/11/00. 25/11/00, 27/11/00, 6/12/00 & The Age 29/11/00)

Physical Violence

Due to the trauma of detention and the previous circumstances of people who find themselves in Australia's detention centres, such as fleeing war torn countries, seeing family members killed, political oppression and torture are all pressures that add to the probability of increased physical violence. The detention centres do not segregate peoples on the grounds of race, ethnicity or religion, and therefore there is a high probability that violence will occur due to racial tensions exacerbated by the intolerable conditions of detention. Australia's detention centres do not offer a protective environment for children to shelter them from physical violence. Commands are issued over loud speakers and there is evidence that the inmates are referred to by number rather than by name in some detention centres. (Flood, 2001).

Regular security checks are carried out during the night by guards raiding sleeping quarters. The impact of this kind of interrogation is enormous for children leaving them living in a stressed and terrified state that disrupts their normal development. Children witness the terror of special law enforcement squads wielding batons and riot shields and water cannons and gas being used to break up riots.

Young children are exposed to rioting and first hand abuse from guards as well as physical mistreatment. Trish Highfield related a story told to her by a father of a two year old child in Villawood detention centre where the guards after handcuffing him tried to leg cuff his small child with plastic cuffs. This violence was perpetrated by guards with the purpose of breaking a Hunger strike in July 2000. The man and his child along with a group of other detainees including women and children were transferred to Port Hedland Detention Centre. It is alleged that after arriving in Port Hedland late at night the children were offered nothing to eat or drink until the next morning. This man and his son were held in an isolation cell with only a bed and one iron door with a small hole in it for 13 days. The child was let out of the room once a day for about half an hour to eat with the other children whose parents were on hunger strike. It is alleged that this man was threatened by guards that he and his child would be kept in this situation indefinitely unless the hunger strike was ended.

Emotional & Social Isolation

Children in detention centres suffer from extreme forms of emotional deprivation and social isolation often at tender ages for prolonged periods of time. This is detrimental to their sense of self, both in the present, and later in life. These children are likely to suffer from mal-attachment disorders that will have far reaching implications for their future emotional and social development and impact greatly on their future relationships.

There are no formal preschool facilities in the detention centres. No child centred play activities are arranged and playgrounds are not supervised. Very little is organised by way of sporting activities. There is inadequate play equipment suitable for the children. Where play equipment is provided there is no shade cloth or soft fall making it unsafe for the children. Occasional recreational outings are organised for the children in some of the centres, however only children under the age of 12 are permitted to take part. The reason for this seems to be that the older children are considered a 'security risk'. (Source: Trish Highfield, Social Justice in Early Childhood Committee. Patricia Ravlico, St Vincent De Paul Society - interview May 2001)

Education

Access to education is a fundamental human right of all refugee children and serves as an important protection tool on the ground. Supporting refugee education and vocational training is particularly vital in promoting the rehabilitation of war affected refugee children and youth. In a number of countries, interdisciplinary, cross-curricular education programs are offered to refugee children, in peace, human rights and environment education. (UNHCR 2000)

In Australian refugee detention centres it is left up to the management of the centre to determine what approach is adopted in relation to the educational needs of the children. Some provide sporadic primary schooling in the centre, while others allow children out to access local schools. There appears to be no comprehensive secondary education provided to children. Above primary school level children can only access English language courses that are provided for the whole detention centre population. Refugee children have special educational needs which could not possibly be addressed under these conditions.

According to Patricia Ravelico from the St Vincent De Paul Society, who currently sits on the Community Reference Committee at Villawood Detention Centre, there is one primary school teacher located in the Detention Centre. The children are free to access the school however classes are not compulsory. Children attend classes only when they are motivated to do so. The school room has inappropriate furniture and little in the way of educational aids. Classes are conducted in English regardless of the nationality of the children attending. One teacher attempts to teach 4 levels of classes in this one room. As only one teacher is employed, with no relief staff, classes do not run if this teacher is on leave. The conclusions drawn from this of course is that for large periods of the year there is no access to primary schooling at Villawood. Children are not permitted to attend schooling outside the detention centre. The situation in Woomera is believed to be much worse. There is no school in the detention centre and most of the children have never attended school outside the centre or if they have it has been a very rare occurrence.

Schooling for children with such diverse needs cannot possibly be addressed adequately under these conditions. The Guidelines for the Care and Protection of Refugee Children state that schooling is one of the best ways to give refugee children the structure and predictability they need. Teachers need to be trained to look out for emotional problems and help the children talk about their experiences.

 

Conclusion

The Association submits that the Australian government must address several issues as a matter of urgency in order to provide better care and protection of refugee children and children of asylum seekers. These can be summarised as follows:

References

The Age 2nd December 2000 Australia Faces up to the quandary of Locking people up Karen Kissane and Penelope Debelle.

The Australian, 15/11/00. 25/11/00, 27/11/00, 6/12/00

Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care 2000 Promotion, Prevention and Early Intervention for Mental Health - Mental Health and Special Programs Branch, Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care Canberra

Flood Philip AO. Feb 2001. Report of Inquiry into Immigration Detention Procedures,

New South Wales Government; Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 NSW Government Publishing

Newman L. Children in Detention - the burden of trauma. In developing practice Number 2; Summer 2001 - 2002 Association of Childrens Welfare Agencies. Sydney

Rayner M. 2001. Political Pinballs Walter Murdoch Lecture.
http://www.dci-au.org/html/pinballs.html

Rogers, G., Children and young people in detention centres. Has anything changed in nine years? in developing practice, Autumn 2002. Association of Childrens Welfare Agencies. Sydney

Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Paediatrics & Child Health Division ' The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. August 2001; Media Release - Child health specialists call for the release of Children and their families from Australian Detention Centres. Sydney

UNHCR September 2000. Summary Note on Strategy and Activities concerning Refugee Children and Adolescents, Office of the Senior Coordinator for refugee children UNHCR

UNHCR 1993 Policy on Refugee Children High Commissioners Programme Sub Committee of the Whole on International Protection.

UNHCR 1994 Refuge Children: Guidelines on Protection and Care High Commissioners Programme Sub Committee of the Whole on International Protection

United Nations 1990 Convention on the Rights of the Child, G.A.res.44/25, annex, 44U.N.GAOR Supp.(No.49) at 167, U.N. Doc. A/44/49 (1989), entered into force Sept 2 1990.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; Universal Declaration of Human Rights Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland. Website

http://www3.itu.int/udhr/lang/eng.htm

Interviews with:

Last Updated 9 January 2003.