The United Nations’ anti-torture watchdog has issued a blunt warning to the Australian Government for dragging its feet after a failure to update progress on improving the treatment of detainees across state prisons and immigration detention facilities. Source: The Guardian.
The UN human rights body suspended its tour of Australian detention facilities in October 2022 after it was denied entry to facilities and information, accusing the country of a “clear breach” of its obligations under the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (Opcat).
The Government was handed a series of recommendations to improve the rights of detainees or risk being placed on a human rights blacklist alongside such countries as South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Australia was required to deliver its follow-up report in November last year, covering the implementation of recommendations across three areas – general detention conditions, immigration detention and youth detention.
But a letter sent to the Albanese Government on Tuesday by the United Nations rapporteur, Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov, said the report had not been handed over and the UN was now seeking clarification.
A spokesperson for the Attorney-General’s department said the drafting of the follow-up report “extended beyond” the UN’s “preferred submission date” of November 25, 2023, but is “expected to be submitted to the committee shortly.”
The UN’s report in December 2022 recommended Australia repeal mandatory detention laws, introduce time limits on how long someone can be held in detention for immigration issues and offer an independent complaints mechanism for detainees.
On youth detention, it also recommended raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility, prohibiting the use of force and physical constraints on children and immediately ending the use of solitary confinement.
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UN watchdog warns Australia after failure to provide timely report on detention conditions (By Sarah Basford Canales, The Guardian)
