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Submission to the National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention from
the Youth Justice Coalition
17 May, 2002
Human Rights and
Equal Opportunity Commission
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW 1042
Please accept the following as a submission to the inquiry into children in immigration detention.
The Youth Justice Coalition (YJC) is a network of youth workers, children's lawyers, policy workers and academics concerned about juvenile justice and working to promote the rights of children and young people in Australia.
The YJC has been active for many years, consulting with young people, writing submissions and reports to government and providing community legal education. Examples of the work of the YJC include the 1990 report Kids In Justice (A Blue Print for the Nineties), Youth Street Rights - A Policy and Legislation Review (1999) and more recently research into young people's experiences of the Young Offender's Act in NSW (2002). The YJC contributed to the Australian Law Reform Commission and Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission inquiry on children in the legal process (1997) and has written submissions to the NSW government on various measures increasing police powers over children and young people.
We submit that Government should release all children who are held in immigration detention in Australia, to live with their families in the community while their refugee status is determined.
The case of Shayan Baedrie, a six year old child who developed severe post traumatic stress disorder while held in detention at Villawood provides a stark illustration of the effect of the imprisonment of vulnerable children under the Government's immigration policies.
Asylum seekers who have made their way to Australia have often experienced situations of abuse, torture and trauma and may be forced to undertake the risky voyage to Australia to escape these intolerable situations. Subjecting these people, particularly children, to indeterminate periods of detention upon their arrival can only exacerbate the negative effects of past trauma.
As a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Australia has agreed under Article 3 that "In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration."
Article 2 provides that "State parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status..of the child's parents or family members."
The imprisonment of children of asylum seekers and their families clearly contravenes Australia's international obligations under this Convention. In our system of juvenile justice, detention of children is used as a punishment of last resort for children whose behaviour poses a serious threat to our community. Yet in our immigration system, innocent children who bear no responsibility for their parents' immigration status are subject to imprisonment for periods of months or years.
The Youth Justice Coalition has a strong commitment to the adherence of international human rights law in Australia and we therefore take this opportunity to also support and endorse the submission made to HREOC by the Australian Lawyers for Human Rights.
Yours faithfully,
Janet Loughman
Convenor, Youth Justice Coalition
