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Learn about the national inquiry into children in immigration detention.

Over the last decade the Commission has worked to promote and protect the rights of asylum seekers and refugees in Australia. The Commission aims to provide clear, factual information to highlight the human rights issues involved in the treatment of these groups of people. On this page: Who are asylum seekers and refugees? What are Australia’s human rights obligations in relation to asylum…

Findings from the national inquiry into children in immigration detention, revealing key issues.

There were a lot of families on the outside who were saying my daughter hasn't come home, my son hasn't come home. You had a lot of families still fighting and then you had the bloody welfare saying to these families, `We're not doing what was done in the sixties'. Bomaderry Home was left open as a big secret by the government and the welfare. And it must have been one of the best kept secrets…

This submission addresses some of the issues and questions raised in the background papers prepared by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and in relation to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) and its 1967 Protocol (the Refugee Convention). The conclusions drawn in this submission arise…

back to immigration detention, asylum seekers and refugees The human rights of people who are in immigration detention are of particular concern to the Commission. Liberty is a fundamental human right, recognised in major human rights instruments to which Australia is a party, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child…

Discover a national conversation on how to promote the human rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls and their communities.

The aim of this submission is to inform HREOC, at the outset of its Inquiry, of the concerns held about Children in Immigration in Detention, by members of the legal profession in New South Wales. The focus of the submission is limited to the issue of compliance with international and domestic legal obligations. Relevant obligations are outlined, concerns are highlighted and finally,…

This report covers my fourth year as the Acting Race Discrimination Commissioner at HREOC, a position I occupy in addition to my position as the aboriginal and torres Strait islander Social Justice Commissioner. During the period on which I report, Australia elected a new government, ending almost 12 years of a coalition government.

The purpose of this chapter is to explain the relevance of international human rights law to children in Australia's immigration detention centres and to provide a quick reference point on the fundamental human rights principles that have influenced the approach of this Inquiry. This chapter also explains the role of United Nations (UN) guidelines in the Inquiry's analysis of Australia's human…

The Australia of 2009 is a proud multicultural nation. It is a nation, culturally, socially and economically formed by the unique combination of its First Nation peoples, its early settlers, and by the many waves of subsequent migration. As such, negotiating diversity and respecting people of all faiths, races, cultures and identities has evolved into an important characteristic of being a member…

We must face up to our humanitarian responsibilities to accept refugee children and their families. We must take them out of the immigration detention centres and welcome them into the community where they can play, learn and grow. At least then when our children look back on this time and ask us what we did to stand up for refugee kids, we can say we gave them their childhood." (Calvert,…