Reports of gross violation of human rights leave no doubt that the Australian Government must release children in detention, senior researcher Susan Rees (pictured) announced recently.

Dr Rees of the Queensland Centre for Domestic and Family Violence Research, based at CQU Mackay, believed details recently released in the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s report provided ample evidence for an urgent review of current procedures.

“The Children in Detention report clearly confirms what refugee advocates have been claiming. The current immigration detention arrangements foster ‘cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment’ of children, which means the legal and moral responsibility for this abuse lies with the Federal Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs,” she said.

“This report leaves Minister Amanda Vanstone and the Government no room for denial, nor any further opportunity to abdicate their duty of care.

“The kinds of abuse detailed in the report can never be portrayed as anything but a gross violation of human rights. “Breaches of the rights of children included not using detention as a last resort, failing to treat children with respect, and not creating or maintaining a humane or healthy environment for them. There are currently 151 children in detention in Australia and on average they will stay in detention for one year and eight months, with the longest being nearly six years.”.

“Under the Convention of the Rights of the Child the Government cannot continue to deny its primary obligation of ensuring children are removed from such situations of danger. “That such abuses against children should occur anywhere is abhorrent enough, but to think that they have occurred within facilities and arrangements controlled by the Australian Government appals me.

“The HREOC report makes it clear that to protect children is no longer a matter of choice. To do otherwise is to align ourselves with the very regimes that the current government so self-righteously accuses of flagrant human rights abuses." Dr Rees has investigated the well-being of asylum seekers and refugees for the past six years and continues to publish, develop policy responses and undertake research in this area.