JSS BANNER 1

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JSS BANNER 1
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A LIFE BEHIND BARBED-WIRE
XX1X WORLD CONGRESS OF OMEP World Organisation
for Early Childhood Education CHILDREN IN
IMMIGRATION DETENTION IN AUSTRALIA A LIFE
BEHIND RAZOR WIRE
Father Peter Norden, S.J Policy Director, Jesuit
Social Services Adjunct Professor, School of
Social Science and Planning, R.M.I.T.
University, Melbourne.
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BABY GHAZAL, BAXTER NO. 390

• Born in Australia in immigration detention
• Yet, she is not an Australian citizen
• While her parents were moved from one detention
  centre to another, baby Ghazel was conceived and
  born to no land!

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15 YEAR OLD, ALI REZAI

• Escaped from the Taliban, in Afghanistan
• His boat in distress off the Australian coast,
  October 2001
• Australian Government directs a Norwegian ship,
  The Tampa, to rescue them
• The ships Captain refused permission to land his
  passengers on Australian shore
• Ali sent to Nauru for almost three years

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MANDATORY DETENTION POLICY

• Australias policy of mandatory detention for
  those arriving onshore, seeking asylum or refuge,
  including infants and children
• 90 are eventually granted a visa
• Average period in detention for children
• 1 year, 8 months, 11 days

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U.N. CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child
shall be used only as a measure of last resort,
and for the shortest appropriate period of
time. Australia a signatory in 1990
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NATIONAL INQUIRY
Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity
Commission (HREOC) National Inquiry into
Children in Immigration Detention May 2004
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HREOC REPORT MAJOR FINGINGS 1
MAJOR FINDINGS AUSTRALIAN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT
Immigration detention centres expose children to
enormous mental distress which confirms the
need to ensure that (this occurs) as a last
resort and for the shortest appropriate period of
time.
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HREOC REPORT MAJOR FINDINGS 2
The Commonwealths failure to implement the
repeated recommendations by mental health
professionals that certain children be removed
from the detention environment with their parents
amounted to cruel, inhumane and degrading
treatment of those children in detention.
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IMPACT OF DETENTION 1
IMPACT OF DETENTION ON EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT
RESEARCH FINDINGS

• Severe early stress can alter brain development
• Increase risk of PTSD / depression
• Attention deficit / hyperactivity
• Dissociative identity disorders

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IMPACT OF DETENTION 2
Increased risk of psychological disturbance with
multiple risk factors

• Observing parental helplessness
• Separation from parents
• Witnessing traumatic events

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IMPACT OF DETENTION 3

• Length of time in detention impacts on potential
  for long-term recovery
• Parental psychological well-being a key factor in
  the mental health of child refugee and asylum
  seekers
• Type of accommodation significant on incidence of
  PTSD among children

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AUSTRALIAN FAMILY LAW

• The Judgment of the Family Court of Australia
  ordered the release of five children from Baxter
  Detention Centre to protect the welfare of the
  children
• Australian Government appealed against the Family
  Court ruling to the High Court of Australia

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AUSTRALIAN FAMILY LAW (2)

• All agencies must adhere to child protection
  laws, enforceable by the Family Court, except the
  Immigration Department
• The Minister for Immigration is the legal
  guardian of these children
• The Family Court has no jurisdiction over
  children in detention centres

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AUSTRALIAN FAMILY LAW (3)

• Australian Family Law does not apply to children
  in immigration detention, even if those children
  were born in Australia
• Australian immigration law is also paramount over
  international law protecting the rights of the
  child

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CONCLUSION

• The current policy of long-term mandatory
  detention of children in remote centres is
  causing untold damage to young lives
• The full damage will not be evident for many
  years
• Child welfare advocates must continue to expose
  this issue, until we see the policy changed

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JSS BANNER 2