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Asylum Seekers and Refugees
14 July 2025SubmissionExternalisation of Migration and the Impact on the Human Rights of Migrants
The Australian Human Rights Commission has made a formal submission to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, contributing to his forthcoming report to the UN General Assembly on the externalisation of migration and its impact on migrant rights. This submission outlines the Commission’s concerns regarding Australia’s externalisation policies, including… -
Asylum Seekers and Refugees
4 April 2023Publication
Australia’s international obligations
Australia is obliged under international law to protect the human rights of all asylum seekers and refugees, regardless of how or where they arrive. -
Asylum Seekers and Refugees
19 February 2025Media Release
Human Rights Commissioner says NZYQ Nauru resettlement announcement raises more questions than it answers
Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner has written to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke seeking clarity and transparency around an Australian Government decision to resettle three members of the NZYQ cohort in Nauru, saying the announcement raises serious human rights concerns and prompts more questions than it answers. -
Asylum Seekers and Refugees
14 December 2012Book page
Summary of Observations following the Inspection of Mainland Immigration Detention Facilities 2007
This report is a brief summary of the observations made by the Human Rights Commissioner and staff of the Australian Human Rights Commission (the Commission). These summary notes and recommendations are based on what we personally observed and heard from staff and detainees during our immigration detention facility inspections. -
Asylum Seekers and Refugees
8 October 2014Opinion piece
Keeping asylum seeker children in detention doesn't stop people smugglers - so why do it?
The former and current ministers for immigration and border security, Chris Bowen and Scott Morrison, agree on one thing: that asylum seeker children are not detained to deter people smuggling. Rather, it appears that patrol boats and naval frigates, commanded by a three star general, and a refusal to allow refugees to settle here, have reduced the number of boats reaching Australia. Why… -
Asylum Seekers and Refugees
9 December 2024Media Release
Women in immigration detention at serious risk of harassment and violence
The Australian Human Rights Commission has called for significant reform to the country’s immigration detention system, after a new report into the treatment of women in detention found their rights, safety and wellbeing are being widely overlooked. These failures, it found, are compounding the risk to women of harassment, violence, and ill health. -
Asylum Seekers and Refugees
16 June 2020Submission
Migration Amendment (Prohibiting Items in Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill 2020
The concerns outlined in this submission draw on the Commission’s work inspecting Australia’s immigration detention facilities. The Commission has conducted such inspections since the mid-1990s. -
Asylum Seekers and Refugees
9 October 2019Media Release
Court finds asylum seekers entitled to fair process
Up to 71 asylum seekers who missed out on making an application for a protection visa were still entitled to a fair assessment of their claims the Full Federal Court has held. The Court accepted submissions from the Australian Human Rights Commission that an internal process established by the Department of Home Affairs should have provided them with procedural fairness. As a result of the … -
Asylum Seekers and Refugees
19 April 2024News story
Inspection report: “serious concerns” at Yongah Hill Detention Centre
An inspection report by the Australian Human Rights Commission has found that a high-security immigration detention centre in Western Australia was, in part, “no longer fit for purpose”, and raised serious concerns over safety conditions and the level of care for detainees and staff. The Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre Inspection Report followed a two-day inspection of the adult… -
Asylum Seekers and Refugees
2 December 2024Publication
'Not Just An Afterthought’ - Women in Immigration Detention Report
The Australian Human Rights Commission has called for significant reform to the country’s immigration detention system, after a new inspection report into the treatment of women in detention found their rights, safety and wellbeing are being widely overlooked. -
Asylum Seekers and Refugees
12 September 2019Publication
Ms HM and Master YM v Commonwealth of Australia (Department of Home Affairs)
Ms HM and Master YM v Commonwealth of Australia (Department of Home Affairs) [2018] AusHRC 127 Report into arbitrary interference with family and failure to consider the best interests of the child Introduction to this inquiry This is a report setting out the findings of the Australian Human Rights Commission (Commission) following an inquiry into a complaint by Ms HM and Master YM against…