The fifth public hearing of the inquiry was held at the Australian Human Rights Commission on Tuesday, 9th September.
The witness for this hearing was the Hon Chris Bowen MP, who was the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship from September 2010 until February 2013.
Events on Manus Island have graphically and tragically brought to the attention of the Australian public the inappropriateness of the current arrangements for the regional processing of asylum seekers.
I have been troubled by the loss of life and the injury that has occurred on Manus Island over this past week, even as we wait for further information about what exactly has occurred. I am also disturbed that this is not the first such incident in immigration detention facilities.
The Australian Human Rights Commission provides this response to the questionnaire from the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in relation to judicial review of the lawfulness of detention.
The purpose of this inquiry is to investigate the ways in which life in immigration detention affects the health, well-being and development of children. The inquiry will assess the impact on children by seeking the views of people who were previously detained as children in closed immigration detention and by assessing the current circumstances and responses of children to immigration detention.
Learn about the impact of mandatory immigration detention on children in regard to Australia's obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Learn everything about refugee and asylum seeker issues, such as immigration detention, legal rights, protection visas and enhanced screening.
HREOC’s report, tabled in federal Parliament on 12 May 1998, deals with the policy of mandatory detention of most unauthorised arrivals and the conditions of detention for those detained. The report had its origins in the many complaints received by HREOC from, or on behalf of, people in immigration detention centres.
This report makes disturbing reading. It documents numerous breaches by Australia of both the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. As a nation that is understandably anxious that the rights of our own children should be respected when they come into contact with the authorities of other countries, it is troubling that between late 2008 and late 2011 Australian authorities apparently gave little weight to the rights of this cohort of young Indonesians.
This is an important report. It deals with our treatment of children in the most recent wave of boat people seeking refuge and a better life on our shores. It does so in the knowledge that there is a tension created by the community expectation that the Government will defend Australia's security while simultaneously upholding individual rights - the notion of the 'fairgo' for all. The report also challenges the argument that family unity within immigration detention centres is the only way that children's 'best interests' can be protected.
