Last week a rickety wooden boat carrying somewhere in the vicinity of 100 asylum seekers crashed onto the cliffs off Christmas Island resulting in anywhere up to 50 deaths. Many of these bodies will never be recovered. Forty-two people were pulled from the ocean mere metres off Christmas Island and are now in detention mourning
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At the ASRC as a human rights lawyer I have witnessed first hand thousands of times over, the human cost of countries whose government believe that they are above the law and should not be subject to the oversight of their own courts. I have sat face to face with men and women who have
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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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On Tuesday the Salvation Army released its latest report on poverty in Australia: Perceptions of Poverty, an Insight into the Nature and Impact of Poverty in Australia. The statistics are alarming. – Over two million Australians, or 1 in 10, do not have an acceptable standard of living and go without the bare necessities. –
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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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