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4.1 Nationalities of the children in detention 4.2 Reasons for seeking asylum 4.3 Age of children in detention 4.4 Unaccompanied children 4.5 When did the children arrive in Australia? 4.6 How long are children kept in detention? 4.7 Movement of children across the detention network 4.8 Mental health and wellbeing of children in detention 4.9 Detention is a dangerous place 4.10 Rates of self-harm ...

The United Nations Youth Association of Australia welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention. The issue of immigration detention for children has been coming under increased scrutiny in the past eight months. As far as it affects our international standing, the standards by which we treat children and our policies regarding refugees, it is a matter of great importance, which must be rigorously discussed in the public arena.

Australia is a signatory to a number of International Conventions, which are relevant to mandatory detention of children in Australia’s immigration detention centres. Under International law, each of the conventions that Australia has ratified is binding on the Australian state, which is obliged to bring its domestic laws into conformity with their stipulations. In Australia, International Conventions do not have legal force in domestic law, and cannot be directly applied by the domestic courts in Australia, unless the Australian Parliament enacts them into legislation.

The Ethnic Communities Council of Western Australia commends the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and Human Rights Commissioner Sev Ozdowski in particular, for instituting the Children in Immigration Detention Inquiry.

“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 Council for Civil Liberties NSW (CCL) considers mandatory detention of asylum seekers to be a breach of Australia's international obligations. The CCL is of the view that mandatory detention of children is morally indefensible particularly given Australia's ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CROC)

This submission aims to highlight a number of issues for children in immigration detention arising from the Department of Human Services' (DHS) involvement in child protection, health service provision to children and their families, settlement support and care of unattached minors.

1. The provisions made by Australia to implement its international human rights obligations regarding child asylum seekers, including unaccompanied minors

The Australian National Committee of the United Nation's Children's Fund, ('UNICEF Australia'), welcomes the opportunity to present a written submission to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, ('HREOC'), in regard to their national inquiry into children in immigration detention, ('the Inquiry').

States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure that a child who is seeking refugee status or who is considered a refugee in accordance with applicable international or domestic law and procedures shall, whether unaccompanied or accompanied by his or her parents or by any other person, receive appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance in the enjoyment of applicable rights set forth in the present Convention and in other international human rights or humanitarian instruments to which the said States are Parties.

This paper contains a comparison of the policies and procedures of Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada for dealing with children as asylum seekers. This comparison reveals two main differences.

CARAD is a group of volunteers, supporters and donors formed from January 2000, in an attempt to meet some of the range of essential and urgent needs of refugees who reach Perth, following assessment of their claim while in a detention centre. We have now met in excess of 2,000 refugees, not all of whom remain in WA, and have provided them with compassionate, practical assistance. We estimate that there are about 1000 individual volunteers, supporters and donors affiliated with CARAD.

Although it is not possible to precisely specify all the circumstance that lead people to arrive in Australia through people smuggling routes, there can be no doubt that they undertake perilous journeys which put their lives and that of accompanying family members at risk. Given the very high rates of approval for those who have sought asylum in Australia through these routes, it is reasonable to assume that most detainees have fled their countries for reasons of persecution.

"Protection is not a simple concession made to the refugee: he is not an object of assistance, but rather a subject of rights and duties. Each country has the responsibility to respect the rights of refugees and assure that they are respected as much as the rights of its own citizens" [1]

Part II - THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE DEPARTMENT OF IMMIGRATION AND MULITCULTURAND AND INDIGENOUS AFFIARS (DIMIA) AND THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN DEPARMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES (DHS) RELATING TO CHILD PROTECTION NOTIFICATIONS AND CHILD WELFARE ISSUES PERTAINING TO CHILDREN IN IMMIGRATION DETENTION IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA

The Commission would like to thank the children and young people who participated in the project and demonstrated great courage in allowing us to hear and tell their often painful and traumatic stories, in a hope that things would change for the better.

Barnardos Australia is a family support and out of home care children's welfare agency operating services in New South Wales and ACT. We make this submission based on a number of detainee children and young people that we have provided services for within their own families, and as homeless adolescents. Furthermore, Barnardos has general experience of the impact of institutional care of children and young people, and children living with uncertainty and stress. We have proved specialist support services to refugee Indo-Chinese young people who have experienced detention in refugee camps.