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Australia ratified its commitment to the Convention of the Rights of the Child in 1989. Australia has also committed itself to other human rights standards such as the Refugee Convention. In order to fulfil these obligations and on pure humanitarian grounds, it is imperative that children in detention are afforded these rights.

"There have been times in our history when Australia has been generous and open hearted and times when it has been very mean. In 1938 at the Evian Conference about dealing with Jewish and other refugees from Hitler, Australia took a flint hearted position, saying that we did not want to import Europe's problems, or to increase racial differences, and that refugees should get back in the queue.

2. I was employed from October 2000 to June 2001 by Australasian Correctional Management (ACM) at the Woomera Immigration Reception and Processing Centre (WIRPC) as a Medical Officer.

“I saw an Afghani guy cut his own throat in my compound – he was working with me in the kitchen that day, and after work, he went outside and he cut himself up everywhere. It was really hard. Even the officers started crying when this happened”. [17–year–old asylum-seeker]

The Diocese of Parramatta covers the western part of Sydney including Castle Hill, Mt Victoria, Penrith, Blacktown, the Mt Druitt area, Windsor and Warragamba. It is a very multicultural area with a large indigenous population.

As organisations with a strong commitment to social justice, and in particular to the education of young people, the Catholic Education Office, Diocese of Parramatta, and the Edmund Rice Centre, are most appreciative of the opportunity to make a submission to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention.

We refer to our telephone conversation with [name removed] on 3 May 2002 from your office agreeing to an extension of time to enable our agency to lodge its submission on the adequacy and appropriateness of Australia’s treatment of child asylum seekers and other children, who are, or have been held in immigration detention.

10th April, 2002 Chatswood IEC has students from between 15 to 25 language groups at any one time. We have only a small number of children from detention centres, possibly because of our relatively privileged socio-economic intake area. However, all staff members have observed a clear difference between the behaviour, performance and general well being of ex detention centre children and all our other students. It should be noted that this difference remains clear between ex detention centre children and children from the same part of the world who have not been in detention.

Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), children in detention have the right to 'Rest & Play'. The main focus of this submission is to promote the services of the NSW Playground Advisory Unit in order to support these rights.

The Council of Social Service of NSW (NCOSS) is an independent non-government organisation and is the peak body for the social and community services sector in NSW. NCOSS works with its members on behalf of disadvantaged people and communities towards achieving social justice in New South Wales. It was established in 1935 and is part of a national network of Councils of Social Service which operate in each State and Territory and at Commonwealth level.

This submission will consider the issue of ‘statelessness’ and its consequences for the nationality of children in detention [2], focussing specifically on those children who are born into immigration detention in Australia. It will address the first term of reference [3] for the Inquiry. The submission will first consider the right to nationality at international law and the problem of ‘statelessness’, before discussing Australia’s domestic law.

The Commonwealth has some statutory obligations to set standards: eg, under the Quarantine Act 1908 (see below), and the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 (to provide a national framework for the regulation of therapeutic goods in Australia and ensure their quality, safety and efficacy).

3. I was employed by what is now the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) for 37 years. I started with the Department after leaving school and was employed with them until January 2002 when I resigned.

2. I was employed between August 2000 and February 2001 by Australasian Correctional Management (ACM) at the Woomera Immigration Reception and Processing Centre (WIRPC) as a registered nurse.

The Equal Opportunity Commission of Victoria (the Commission) commends the enquiry by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission into the circumstances of children in immigration detention and the longer-term effects of detention on children who have entered the Australian community. This submission considers the post-detention experience and treatment of children and young adults released into the community as recognised refugees, with particular reference to,

The Federation of Parents and Citizens' Associations of New South Wales is committed to a free public education system which is open to all people irrespective of culture, gender, academic ability and socio-economic class and empowers students to control their own lives and be contributing members of society. This commitment is based on the belief that:

3. I was employed by Australasian Correctional Management (ACM) at the Woomera Immigration Reception and Processing Centre (WIRPC) as a Psychologist from approximately October 2000 until December 2001 on a contractual basis. There were some times during this period that I was not working, but the total period for which I was working at the WIRPC during this period was approximately 14 months.

The functions of Health Services Australia, the services it provides and that nature and extent of reports it makes on services provided to and in immigration detention centres (including also the provision of services to people who may be "in immigration detention" but not in a centre (for example, in a nominated hospital, goal, house in the community etc));

As a former teacher at the Woomera IRPC, I was able to witness at first hand, the conditions of detention and the resulting outcomes for Asylum Seekers.