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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.

Australian law requires the detention of all non-citizens who are in Australia without a valid visa (unlawful non-citizens). This means that immigration officials have no choice but to detain persons who arrive without a visa (unauthorised arrivals), or persons who arrive with a visa and subsequently become unlawful because their visa has expired or been cancelled (authorised arrivals)…

DR OZDOWSKI: This is one of a series of hearings to be conducted around Australia. My name is Dr Sev Ozdowski and I am the Human Rights Commissioner and I am assisted in the Inquiry by two colleagues of mine, Mrs Robin Sullivan who is to the left of me, the Queensland Children's Commissioner. To the right of me is Dr Trang Thomas who is a Professor of Psychology at Melbourne Institute of…

DR OZDOWSKI: My name is Dr Ozdowski and I am the Human Rights Commissioner and we are conducting an Inquiry into Children in Detention. To my left is Mrs Robin Sullivan who is Assistant Commissioner for the Inquiry and in her other life, she is Queensland Children's Commissioner and to my right is Professor Trang Thomas, Professor of Psychology at the Melbourne Institute of Technology and she is…

The deceased was travelling with a friend in a car on Kloeden St, Ceduna at around 1:30am on the morning of Sunday 2 July. The car was approached by police who later stated that they were attending to a break-in in the street. The officers ran a warrant check on the pair. The friend was allowed to go but the deceased was arrested on warrants for non-payment of fines and a non-appearance on an…

This report contains a summary of observations made by the Australian Human Rights Commission (the Commission) during its 2010 visit to the immigration detention facilities on Christmas Island.

This is the third successive Social Justice Report to report on the implementation of the new arrangements for Indigenous affairs at the federal government level. The past two Social Justice Reports have emphasised the importance of governments ensuring the effective participation of Indigenous peoples in decision making that affects our lives. This includes the development of policy, program…

Australia's Immigration Detention Centres are contradictory to the human rights of the child. The Immigration Detention experience is extremely harmful to children and has effects of traumatisation and re-traumatisation during the Detention experience and continuing after release. Concerning alternatives to Detention, the present options are also not geared towards the best interest of the child.

The primary responsibilities of the Legal Section are to assist the President or their delegate in the preparation of notices and reports under the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 (Cth); to act as counsel or instructing solicitor for the Commission in interventions and amicus curiae matters; to assist the Commission in work arising from legislation or bills raising human…

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,…

The following notes are a brief summary of the observations made by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s (HREOC) President, Human Rights Commissioner and staff.  HREOC emphasises that these summary notes and recommendations are based solely on what we personally observed and heard from staff and detainees during our visits.