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The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) welcomes the release of the 2008 Immigration Detention Report by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and acknowledges the important independent scrutiny of the immigration system provided by the AHRC.

Letter to Mr Philip Ruddock MP 31/01/2002 Letter to Mr Philip Ruddock MP 22/02/2002 Letter to Mr Philip Ruddock MP 21/03/2002 Letter to Mr Philip Ruddock MP 03/04/2002 Letter to Mr Philip Ruddock MP 29/04/2002 Letter to Mr Philip Ruddock MP 06/05/2002 Letter to Mr Philip Ruddock MP 09/06/2002

Centacare Newcastle is the official welfare arm of the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle. The service was established in 1961 and is one of the longest standing welfare agencies in the Hunter. Centacare aims to provide high quality services concerned with the alleviation of conditions which lead to injustice or misery through poverty, alienation, unemployment, marital disharmony, child abuse, neglect and rejection, helplessness or other forms of suffering and distress.

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.

There is no task more important than building a world in which all of our children can grow up to realise their full potential in health, peace and dignity. [1]

The current mandatory detention policy of the Commonwealth of Australia breaches the fundamental principle of the rights of the child which is that children should be able to develop to their full potential. The policy breaches every article of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The policy violates the right to health as established by international law.

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 rights treaty obligations.

The YWCA of Australia is a women's membership movement, nourished by its roots in the Christian Faith and sustained by the richness of many beliefs and values. Strengthened by diversity the Association draws together members who strive to create opportunities for growth, leadership and empowerment in order to attain a common vision: peace, justice freedom and dignity for all people.

How can the baptized claim to welcome Christ if they close the door to the foreigner who comes knocking? " If anyone has the world's goods and sees his brothers or sisters in need, yet closes his heart against them, how does God's love abide in him?" (1 Jn 3:17)

1. In my evidence before the Commission on Friday 31 May 2002 I noted that the number of children in refugee detention centres in Australia had fallen from 582 to 184 over the past 6 months but that 351 children remained in detention on Nauru and Manus Island as part of the ‘Pacific Solution’.

DR OZDOWSKI: It is 9.30 so we will start another day off, formal hearings. My name is Dr Sev Ozdowski and I'm the Human Rights Commissioner. To my right is Dr Trang Thomas, Professor of Psychology at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and to my left Mrs Robin Sullivan, Queensland's Children's Commissioner. Both of them do assist me with the Inquiry as Assistant Commissioners. Also, on my left Ms Vanessa Lesnie who is Secretary to the Inquiry.

National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention Inquiry homepage | Submissions to the Inquiry | Media Releases | Terms of Reference | Background Papers Public Hearing Dates and Transcripts Hearing dates for the National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention are available below. Transcripts of the hearings are posted below. Please note that all transcripts have been edited. SYDNEY ...

The Mercy Refugee Service is part of the relief and development cross-cultural work of the Institute of Sisters of Mercy Australia. Mercy Refugee Service is entrusted to serve without discrimination the uprooted and displaced people in our world. It was established in 1983 to respond to the plight of refugees in south-east Asia. At that time volunteers were called on to provide health care, education, social welfare and counselling support to refugees in camps in Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines and in Cambodia.

As Commissioner for Children in Tasmania, my Office is set up under Part 9 of the Children, Young Persons and their Families Act 1997 ("the Act"). The Act is informed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and has been in operation in Tasmania since 1st July 2000.

As a counsellor of children and families at risk of child abuse and neglect, I have a number of concerns about the children being held in immigration detention in Australia and in our region on the request of Australian authorities. In my professional capacity I see children who have been abused by their Australian families. I find it appalling that Australia as a nation is now systematically abusing children whose parents have sought asylum here. In the following submission I offer suggestions under a number of headings:

Thank you for the opportunity to address an issue, which I believe, is another stain on Australian history. The systematic neglect and abuse of children in our IDCs is shameful and must end. It is intolerable that our senior politicians claim that a simple majority gives them the mandate to practise policies that ignore established standards for the care and nurturing of children.

Comments on Transcripts of the Public hearings for DIMIA and ACM by Philippa Goodwin, Deputy Secretary DIMIA Comments on Transcript of the Public Hearing held in Sydney on 2 December 2002 Comments on Transcript of the Public Hearing held in Sydney on 3 December 2002 Comments on Transcript of the Public Hearing held in Sydney on 4 December 2002 Comments on Transcript of the Public Hearing held in ...

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.