Australia violates children's rights

Christmas Island is no place to detain children

Amnesty International has called on the Australian Government to commit fully to its vision of creating a more humane refugee system. An online petition

addressed to Immigration Minister, Senator Chris Evans, insists that the government stop violating its international obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Amnesty points out that, "Despite the 'new direction the Federal Government has taken in detention policy, children and unaccompanied minors remain in immigration detention arrangements on Christmas Island.

"Eighty six children, including 59 unaccompanied minors, are currently being held on Christmas Island. The detention arrangements in which children are kept, such as the ‘construction camp’ facility which currently holds 68 children, is inappropriate for children even for the briefest period. The ‘construction camp’ consists mostly of metal, concrete and gravel, with small claustrophobic bedrooms and no ways to communicate with the outside world.

"A further eighteen unaccompanied minors are currently held in community detention."

Amnesty says, "Although the Federal Government has committed to no longer keeping children in detention centres, these alternative detention arrangements with their restrictive conditions and lack of services have similar detrimental psychological impacts on children."