Immigration detention, asylum seekers and refugees
- Frequently asked questions
- What’s new?
- Media releases
- Publications
- Submissions
- Speeches and events
- Individual complaints
Frequently asked questions
What’s new?
- Applying Human Rights in Closed Environments: Practical Observations on Monitoring and Oversight (21 February 2012)
- Keynote address to the Victoria Legal Aid Civil Justice Law and Practice Conference (25 November 2011)
- Immigration detention at Curtin: Observations from visit to Curtin Immigration Detention Centre and key concerns across the detention network (September 2011)
- Submission to the Inquiry into Australia’s agreement with Malaysia in relation to asylum seekers (September 2011)
- Submission to the Joint Select Committee on Australia’s Immigration Detention Network (August 2011)
- Visit to Inverbrackie ‘alternative place of detention’ (August 2011)
- Photos taken during Commission visits to immigration detention facilities (2010-2011)
Media releases
- Bridging visas are a more humane way to treat people seeking protection (25 November 2011)
- Commission to inquire into the treatment of suspected people smugglers who say that they are children (21 November 2011)
- President reports into arbitrary detention, the standard of treatment in detention and rights of the child in detention (3 November 2011)
- Processing asylum seekers on the mainland is welcomed (October 2011)
- Mental health impacts of indefinite detention a major concern at Curtin detention centre (29 September 2011)
- Need to reform immigration detention system (14 September 2011)
- Government should not revive Malaysian agreement (12 September 2011)
- High Court reinforces responsibility to protect the rights of children (31 August 2011)
- Commission warns against revisiting aspects of ‘Pacific Solution’ (22 August 2011)
- Sending asylum seekers to Malaysia is not the answer to addressing people smuggling (25 July 2011)
- Australia’s immigration detention system continues to breach international human rights obligations (21 July 2011)
- Commission welcomes expansion of community detention (29 June 2011)
- Australia must continue to provide safe haven for those seeking hope and a future (20 June 2011)
- Self-harm and suicides in immigration detention are major concerns (26 May 2011)
- Commission raises concerns about sending asylum seekers to Malaysia (9 May 2011)
- Time to rethink our mandatory detention system (17 March 2011)
- Hot, dusty, remote location should not be used to detain children (15 February 2011)
- Commission welcomes moves to improve complementary protection as a good first step (24 February 2011)
Click here to read more media releases.
Publications
- Immigration detention at Curtin: Observations from visit to Curtin Immigration Detention Centre and key concerns across the detention network (September 2011)
- Immigration detention at Villawood (May 2011)
- Immigration detention in Leonora (February 2011)
- Immigration detention in Darwin (December 2010)
- Immigration detention on Christmas Island (October 2010)
- Immigration detention and visa cancellation under section 501 of the Migration Act (March 2010)
- Immigration detention and offshore processing on Christmas Island (October 2009)
- 2008 Immigration detention report: Summary of observations following visits to Australia's immigration detention facilities (January 2009)
- Past reports on Commission visits to immigration detention facilities
- A last resort? National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention (2004)
- Immigration Detention Guidelines (2000)
- Those who’ve come across the seas: Detention of unauthorised arrivals (1998)
Submissions
- Submission to the Inquiry into Australia’s agreement with Malaysia in relation to asylum seekers (September 2011)
- Submission to the Joint Select Committee on Australia’s Immigration Detention Network (August 2011)
- Submission to the Inquiry into the Migration Amendment (Detention Reform and Procedural Fairness) Bill 2011 (June 2011)
- Submission to the Inquiry into the Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test and Other Provisions) Bill 2011 (May 2011)
- Submission to the Independent Review of the Intelligence Community (May 2011)
- Submission to the OHCHR on the rights of the child in the context of migration (April 2010)
- Submission to the Inquiry into the Migration Amendment (Complementary Protection) Bill 2009 (September 2009)
- Submission to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works on the Proposed Redevelopment of the Villawood Immigration Detention Facility (September 2009)
- Submission to the Inquiry into the Migration Amendment (Immigration Detention Reform) Bill 2009 (July 2009)
- Submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Migration Inquiry into immigration detention in Australia (August 2008)
Click here to read more submissions.
Speeches and events
- Applying Human Rights in Closed Environments: Practical Observations on Monitoring and Oversight (21 February 2012)
- Keynote address to the Victoria Legal Aid Civil Justice Law and Practice Conference, speech by Commission President, Catherine Branson QC (25 November 2011)
- Opening statement by Commission President, Catherine Branson QC to the Joint Select Committee on Australia's Immigration Detention Network: speech by Commission President, Catherine Branson QC (05 October 2011)
- Human rights, refugees and asylum seekers: speech by Commission President, Catherine Branson QC (July 2011)
- The Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture Annual Oration by Commission President, Catherine Branson QC (June 2011)
- Mandatory immigration detention of children in Australia: how far have we come and where to from here? Brad Selway Memorial Lecture by Commission President, Catherine Branson QC (November 2010)
- Seminar on implementing the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture in Australia (November 2009)
- Complementary protection seminar: meeting Australia's obligations to people fleeing danger (November 2008)
Individual complaints
Do you think you have been discriminated against or had your human rights breached while in immigration detention?
Click here for information about how to make a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission.
