Immigration detention and human rights

This Statement provides guidance on the short-term use of hotel APODs, including access to open‑air exercise, access to meaningful programs and activities, and the need to ensure medical and welfare services are of the same standard as those provided in other immigration detention facilities.
Novak Djokovic’s recent detention at Melbourne’s Park Hotel drew international attention to Australia’s use of hotels as Alternative Places of Detention by immigration authorities. But while Djokovic’s detention was measured in days, others still remain
29 October 2021
Embracing Cultural Diversity in Australia
Alice Pung
The Australian Human Rights Commission acknowledges the Federal Government’s announcement that it will stop the offshore processing of asylum seekers on Papua New Guinea at the end of 2021.
The Commission makes this submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee in relation to its inquiry into the efficacy, fairness, timeliness and costs of the processing and granting of visa classes which provide for or allow for family and partner reunions.
For several decades, the Australian Human Rights Commission has expressed deep and longstanding concern about the human rights of people held in Australia’s immigration detention facilities. As a result of our most recent inspection process, that concern has deepened.
Some of the issues of greatest concern to the Commission are as follows.
The Australian Human Rights Commission has today released a report that details increasing concern for the human rights of people held in Australia’s immigration detention facilities.
The report contains findings and recommendations arising from the Commission’s most recent in-person inspections of Australia’s immigration detention facilities, including ‘alternative places of detention’ (APODs). These inspections occurred before the COVID-19 pandemic.