Australia’s “diabolical” treatment of asylum seekers and youth crime has worsened, a global human rights advocacy body has warned. Source: The Guardian.
Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) latest world report has lashed Australia for going backwards on children in the criminal justice system in 2024, referencing the Northern Territory’s decision to reintroduce spit hoods for youth detainees and the continued use of watch houses to detain children in Queensland.
In December, the new Queensland Government passed “adult crime, adult time” laws, dramatically increasing maximum sentences for child offenders.
The Government concedes the laws are contrary to international and state human rights law, are discriminatory against young people and will “have a greater impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children”.
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli this week vowed to make “many more” changes to strengthen the state’s hardline youth justice laws.
HRW, a global body which provides country-level reports for more than 100 countries, described Australia as a “vibrant democracy … marred by some key human rights concerns”.
But the organisation’s Australia director, Daniela Gavshon, said those concerns worsened last year and that recent changes in the youth justice system were “appalling” and a “complete flagrant disregard of international standards”.
“[Children as young as 10 years old] don’t have the maturity and capacity for abstract reasoning and to really comprehend the consequences of their actions,” she said.
“There’s nothing to stop governments making non-criminal, child-friendly, multi-disciplinary interventions that can be a response to unlawful behaviour.”
The report also condemns the treatment of asylum seekers transferred to detention facilities on Nauru – many of whom have had their phones confiscated – noting Australia “continues to evade its international obligations”.
Several groups of asylum seekers were taken to the tiny island north-east of Australia last year after it was briefly closed in mid-2023. Almost 100 people are believed to be in the immigration centre.
FULL STORY
Human rights report lashes Australia’s ‘diabolical’ asylum seeker treatment and ‘appalling’ youth crime laws (By Sarah Basford Canales, The Guardian)
