Skip to main content
A fenced area with several portable buildings on a reddish dirt field under a blue sky with scattered clouds. Sparse greenery is visible in the background.
Asylum Seekers and Refugees

Immigration detention and human rights

The human rights of people who are in immigration detention are of special concern to the Commission. Liberty is a fundamental human right, recognised in major human rights instruments to which Australia is a party.
Two children with arms raised stand outside at sunset, silhouetted against an orange and blue sky. Geometric blue and green shapes line the left edge of the image.
Rights and Freedoms

Free and Equal Conference

The Free and Equal conference was the centrepiece of a national conversation and once-in-a-decade event. The conference was held at the Hyatt Regency Sydney on Tuesday 8 October 2019.
A child's painting shows two people on a brown boat in blue waves, with a fence in the water. The text at the bottom reads “NO WAY TO AUSTRALIA"
Asylum Seekers and Refugees

Transfer of asylum seekers to third countries

Learn how the Australian government introduced third-country processing for asylum seekers who came to Australia by boat without a valid visa in 2012.
An illustration shows the text, Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution, above an image of a yellow envelope with a person symbol inside.

Immigration detention, asylum seekers and refugees

The Commission seeks to ensure that the human rights of all people held in immigration detention in Australia are protected. The Commission has focused its recent immigration detention work on the conditions and treatment of asylum seekers, refugees and children, because they have specific...
Illustration of raised hands, a flying dove with an olive branch, and the quote All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Additional text about acting in a spirit of brotherhood appears below.
Rights and Freedoms

Rights and freedoms - right by right

As part of the development of our new website we are developing pages on human rights scrutiny by reference to each area of rights and obligations set out in the main human rights treaties which have been developed by the international community and adopted by Australia in the years since the...