40 stories for 40 Years | Refugee and asylum seeker rights

Australia’s approach to children in immigration detention has evolved significantly over the past three decades, shaped by changing political priorities, public concern and human rights advocacy. A landmark inquiry and report from the Commission in the early 2000s helped set the standard for the treatment of children in immigration detention.

Australia’s modern system of immigration detention began in 1992 with the introduction of mandatory detention under the Migration Amendment Act. This policy required all non-citizens without a valid visa – including asylum seekers and children – to be detained until they were granted a visa or extradited. The policy applied regardless of age or vulnerability and had no fixed time limit, meaning children could be detained for prolonged and indefinite periods alongside adults.

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, increasing numbers of asylum seekers, including families and children, arrived in Australia, many by boat. As a result, thousands of children were placed in immigration detention centres, often in remote locations under harsh conditions. Most were held for more than 2 years. Some were in detention for more than 5 years. Reports began to emerge of serious and distressing impacts on children’s mental health, education and development. Public concern grew as media and advocacy groups highlighted these conditions.

In response to these concerns, the Commission undertook a 2-year inquiry into the experiences of children in immigration detention. This included inspections of detention facilities across Australia to directly observe conditions and speak with children, families, and staff. Documentary evidence was collected, hundreds of submissions were taken and witnesses gave expert testimony.

The findings were delivered in 2004 in a landmark report called A Last Resort?: National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention. The title reflected a key finding that Australia’s mandatory immigration detention regime was fundamentally in breach of Australia’s obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which requires detention of children as a ‘last resort’ and for the ‘shortest appropriate period of time’.

The damning report found that long periods of detention were causing severe psychological impacts, that authorities were failing to provide adequate living conditions, healthcare, education and developmental support, and that they were failing to protect the most vulnerable children, such as unaccompanied children and those with disabilities.

The inquiry also identified failures in case management, decision-making processes and legal safeguards. Importantly, the report affirmed that the harm being experienced was not just about the conditions in the detention centres – it was inherent in the policy of mandatory detention itself.

The report caused a public outcry along with widespread demands for change, forcing the Australian Government at the time to introduce a series of reforms. By 2005, legislation was amended to affirm that children, in principle, should only be detained as a last resort. That same year, most children and their families were released from high-security detention centres into community-based arrangements.

In relation to protecting the rights of both children and asylum seekers in Australia, our A Last Resort? report stands as a defining moment. It transformed public awareness about inhumane treatment of children in detention, ignited a raft of reforms to laws and policies, and established bast practice principles for children in detention.

Sadly, this approach regressed from 2013, when increased boat arrivals led to a return to tougher government policies, including offshore processing and the detention of significant numbers of children, often for extended periods. This prompted another major inquiry by the Commission in 2014. The findings of this inquiry – contained in our The Forgotten Children report – made similar findings about prolonged detention causing serious mental and physical harm to children, breaching international human rights law.

The Commission continues to advocate for reforms to Australia’s immigration detention regime to protect the rights of all asylum seekers, especially children and young people. However, the findings of A Last Resort? and The Forgotten Children remain as vital evidence and guidance in relation to fixing wrongs with rights.

For more, read the report here: A Last Resort?: National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention

During the 1990s, Australia’s system of mandatory immigration detention was met with a great deal of criticism and controversy for the way it treated asylum seekers. Introduced in 1992, the policy required all unauthorised arrivals to be detained, often for indefinite periods, regardless of individual circumstances. This included children and people with disability. Human rights organisations, legal experts and refugee advocates argued it treated vulnerable people – many fleeing conflict or persecution – as criminals rather than individuals in need of protection.

Reports of harsh conditions, isolation, and the psychological harm caused by prolonged detention began to emerge, bringing attention to the human cost of the policy. However, the Australian Government at the time defended its border-control approach as necessary for managing immigration, combatting people trafficking, and deterring irregular arrivals.

The Commission determined this tension between national security concerns and human rights obligations required further scrutiny. So, we launched the first major inquiry by a government agency to determine whether Australia’s immigration policies and practices were fair, humane and consistent with our international treaty obligations. One of the most powerful aspects of the inquiry was the direct testimonies from detainees gathered by Commission investigators who travelled to detention facilities across Australia.

When the report was released in 1998, it was titled Those Who’ve Come Across the Seas: Detention of unauthorised arrivals, referencing a verse from Australia’s national anthem: ‘For those who’ve come across the seas we’ve boundless plains to share.’ The impact was immediate. The statistics turned into faces and the policies turned into lived experiences, about children growing up behind barbed wire, parents battling despair and individuals held not for crimes but for seeking safety.

The report found mandatory detention breached international human rights standards, that detention was often unnecessary and too broad, and that there were significant concerns in relation to living conditions, legal access, healthcare and the physical and psychological harm being experienced by detainees. And the report didn’t simply criticise – it urged reform, calling for community-based alternatives, stronger protections under international law and increased accountability for and oversight of Australia’s immigration detention system.

Though government policy didn’t shift overnight, the report sparked a national conversation that would echo for years. Journalists drew on its findings to inform the public. Advocacy groups found in it a powerful tool to push for change. Lawyers cited it in courtrooms. For detainees themselves, the report offered hope for change and an official acknowledgment that their treatment mattered and was being scrutinised.

The report is now considered a foundational document in debates about refugee policy in Australia, establishing a framework for critique that continues to shape discussion and reform efforts in Australia today. While it didn’t end mandatory detention, it exposed the failings of the system, challenging Australians to see beyond borders and policies, and to confront the human cost of the system.

Read the original report here: Those Who’ve Come Across the Seas: Detention of unauthorised arrivals.

While the treatment of children in immigration detention has been investigated extensively by the Commission over several decades, the treatment of women did not get a specific focus until just a few years ago, mostly because women make up only around 5% of detainees.

Released in 2024, our groundbreaking report Not Just An Afterthought: The Experience of Women in Immigration Detention was informed by a series of inspections in April and May of that year by Commission staff of immigration detention centres in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth which hold women. The aim was to assess whether women’s specific needs, safety, and human rights were being adequately recognised and protected.

The central finding of the report was the policies, practices and infrastructure of Australia’s immigration detention system are largely designed for men, leaving the rights, safety and wellbeing of women marginalised or overlooked, compounding the risk to women of harassment, violence and ill health. Failings included inadequate accommodation and recreation arrangements, limited access to gender‑appropriate healthcare and mental health support, and insufficient programs tailored to women’s needs. Women were also sometimes housed near or alongside male detainees, including sex offenders, creating heightened risks of harassment and trauma.

A key theme of the report was the gendered nature of harm in detention. Many women detainees had prior experiences of violence or abuse, which were often exacerbated by detention conditions, including isolation, lack of privacy, and exposure to unsafe environments. The report also highlighted deficiencies in staff training, with limited gender‑sensitivity training and insufficient numbers of female staff. 

In addition, family separation was identified as a major issue, as women were often detained far from their children and support networks, compounding mental health impacts and hindering reintegration. Some women told Commission inspectors that they had not been able to hug a family member in years.

Overall, the report concluded that the treatment of women in immigration detention failed to meet Australia’s international human rights obligations, particularly in relation to vulnerable groups. The report called for changes including improved accommodation, better access to healthcare, enhanced staff training, and stronger safeguards against violence.

At the time, the findings received significant media coverage, generating calls for reform from human rights and refugee advocates. The Australian Government accepted or partially agreed with many recommendations, but the pace of reform since then has been slow. While the Commission continues to advocate for change, Not Just An Afterthought will remain influential as part of a growing body of evidence demonstrating that detention systems must better account for diversity, vulnerability and human rights, particularly for those whose needs have historically been overlooked.

Find the guidelines here:  Not Just An Afterthought: The Experience of Women in Immigration Detention

For more than 2 decades the Commission has played a central role in shaping and monitoring human rights standards within Australia’s immigration detention system. The Commission has assessed complaints, undertaken periodic inspections of detention facilities and conducted inquiries to determine whether conditions meet internationally accepted human rights benchmarks.  

The long history of the work includes the Review of Immigration Detention Centres (1998–1999), HREOC Reports No. 12 (2000), No. 17 (2002), and No. 28 (2005), as well as major inquiries such as An age of uncertainty (2012), The forgotten children (2014), and Lives on hold (2019). These reports consistently highlighted systemic issues including inadequate health care, prolonged detention and the impacts of family separation. 

This sustained oversight led to the 2013 publication of Human rights standards for immigration detention, a consolidated framework drawing on international treaties, UN interpretive guidelines, international case law and domestic legal obligations. These standards establish clear benchmarks covering detention conditions, treatment of detainees, access to health care, family unity, procedural fairness and independent oversight. They emphasise that detention must occur in the least restrictive environment possible and that authorities have a primary duty of care for detainee wellbeing.  

The standards align with the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT), and call for robust inspection regimes by both international and Australian oversight bodies. They also adopt a broad definition of detention, encompassing facilities ranging from immigration detention centres to alternative and transit accommodations. 

The standards have become the principal yardstick for evaluating detention practices and are widely cited in parliamentary inquiries, court decisions, UN reviews and NGO reporting. They remain highly relevant and continue to anchor accountability and guide reforms in Australia’s immigration detention system.

Read the standards here: Human rights standards for immigration detention