On October 18th last year Immigration Minister Chris Bowen announced that the government had decided to expand its existing residence determination program and would seek to transition several hundred children and vulnerable family groups out of immigration detention facilities and into community-based accommodation. Prime Minister Julia Gillard later offered quantification of this announcement, pledging that
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It’s the 19th of January 2002 and there is news of 58 asylum seekers in Woomera having sewed their lips together in protest of the delays in processing their refugee applications. We fast forward to the 19th of November 2010 and news breaks of 10 people seeking asylum who have sewed their lips together on
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A recent report in the Sydney Morning Herald sheds some light on the human cost of Australia’s policy of mandatory detention for asylum seekers arriving by boat. In the year up to June 30 there were 39 instances of self-harm recorded in detention – a fourfold increase on the 10 cases recorded in the previous
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The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) welcomes the Government’s announcement today of plans to release the majority of unaccompanied children and families deemed to be ‘at risk’ from detention into the community by June 2011. The release of some children and families will make a significant positive difference to their welfare. However, there are many
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As of 14th October 2010 there are 723 children in detention in Australia. These children range in age from newborn to 18 years of age, including three babies who were born in detention. Children are some of the most vulnerable people in our community. How we treat children shapes their future, impacts what sort of
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