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Submission to National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention from
the Australian Parents Council Incorporated
The National Federation
of Organisations Representing Parents of Non-government School Students
National Secretariat
PO Box 1894
North Sydney NSW 2059
Telephone: (02) 9955 7091
Fax (02) 9923 2723
Email:director@austparents.edu.au
The Australian Parents Council (APC) is the national voice of parents of children attending non-government schools throughout Australia.
The APC commends the inquiry into children in immigration detention. We confine our brief comment to the basic human right of all children to education.
The APC believes that children in whatever circumstances, including those in immigration detention, are entitled to immediate access to appropriate and supportive education in Australia, fully funded by governments and with additional cultural supports appropriate for those children.
The APC believes that education, commencing from the earliest days of a child's life, is the key to the creation of just societies and the key to economic and community viability.
Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which underpins the work of the APC, sets out the imperative for education and its nature.
The Federal Government is a signatory to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In their principles and policies, school authorities in Australia express commitment to the ideals in Article 26 of that Declaration and Australia has the resources to attain the ideal.
Article 26
1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible on the basis of merit.
2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
It shall promote understanding tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
In the light of this universal declaration, APC asks the inquiry to establish:
Whether children in detention have immediate access to Australian education;
Whether such access is well enough funded and tailored to the needs of these children, their parents and their culture and background;
Whether prolonged detention is the antithesis of those ideals the Australian education system and Australians aspire to.
J
Lonergan
Executive Director
April 2002
Last Updated 9 January 2003.
