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Submission to National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention from

The Association of Major Charitable Organizations (SA) Inc

PREAMBLE

The Association of Major Charitable Organisations welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention.

AMCO is a coalition of community service organizations in South Australia. AMCO has two broad aims. It is committed to provide increased collaboration between community service agencies in the planning and delivery of services. AMCO also aims to provide a united voice on a variety of social and community issues to the community and to government.

The members of AMCO are Adelaide Central Mission, Baptist Community Services, St Vincent De Paul, Centacare, Port Adelaide Central Mission, Mission Australia, Wesley Uniting Mission, Lutheran Community Care, Anglicare, Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

INTRODUCTION

In the preparation of this submission, AMCO has relied heavily upon the advice service providers to asylum seekers in immigration detention. This submission will not consider all the Terms of Reference. It will address some of the terms of reference in passing and will address only numbers three and four in detail, which are as follows:

3. The adequacy and effectiveness of the policies, agreements, laws, rules and practices governing children in immigration detention or child asylum seekers and refugees residing in the community after a period of detention, with particular reference to:

4. The impact of detention on the well-being and healthy development of children, including their long term development.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS

AMCO recommends that:

1. Children not be subject to mandatory detention, but housed in the community

2. The best interests of the child, and the child's long term welfare be the prime consideration in all decision making

3. Families not be separated, but accommodated as a family unit in the community

4. the Federal Government provide timely and appropriate services to asylum seekers awaiting processing of visa applications equivalent to Australian community expectations for Australian citizens. These services should refer to cultural and linguistic need and should include, for example,

5. that the Federal Government uphold the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990) and all other international treaties or agreements which apply directly or indirectly to children and young people and refugees, including the:

6. the Federal Government adopt the policy of the Labor Party that management of detention centres return to public ownership and operation

7. that coverage and assessment of asylum seekers be accurate

8. that the Federal Government use inclusive language in describing refugees

9. that the Temporary Protection Visa subclass 785 be abolished

Addressing the Terms of Reference

AMCO is concerned that the special needs of children have not been considered in the development of government policy in relation to asylum seekers. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Australia is a signatory, indicates that a child seeking refugee status should receive appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance. The special situation of children however, has not been incorporated into Australia's legislation or policy in relation to treatment of asylum seekers. Recent allegations of sexual misconduct in detention highlight the need to adopt policies and practices that take account of the specific needs of children.

AMCO is concerned that the mandatory detention of all asylum seekers including children is extremely detrimental to the health, well-being and long-term development of children. The policies, agreements, laws, rules and practices governing children in detention are inhumane and should be reformed for a number of reasons. First, the detention environment is an inhospitable environment in which to raise a child. The environment creates a general feeling of depression, boredom and lack of motivation for both adults and children. Second, children in detention do not have sufficient opportunities for education, recreational activities and access to services to grow to function as adults. Third, the detention environment is a significant deterrent to children accessing what little opportunities and services are available to them.

AMCO recommends that children in the formative stages of their development should not be kept in detention. The intentional policies of processing applicants as individuals rather than as families and of long periods of detention have considerable impact on families, including children. Removal of children from detention often means the separation of women and children from their fathers. AMCO recommends that families should be housed as a unit while their applications are being processed: children should not be separated from their parents.

The primary evidence for this submission has been gleaned from a series of interviews conducted by service providers during visits to the Woomera Immigration Detention Centre in January and February 2002. These interviews included a focus on issues relating to children in detention. The service providers interviewed a number of families with children. Interviews examined daily life in detail and indicated that families shared common concerns about the general environment in which their children were growing. The concerns that interviewees raised reflect sustained criticism of conditions in immigration detention.

AMCO are concerned that the conditions under which children are detained are extremely detrimental to the children's physical, social psychological and spiritual health and well being. The overwhelming statement made by children was their sense of being imprisoned and craving freedom. Children and families routinely reported the detention environment was uninhabitable, did not provide adequate services and the environment made asylum seekers unable to access what little services were provided. Children reported high levels of boredom, depression and lack of motivation. Older children were not able to identify any activity or improvement that would make life more bearable - they simply wanted to be free.

The following section will address the responses of categories of children in detail and provide an assessment of service delivery to those categories.

Education

AMCO is concerned that the provision of schooling for refugee children does not meet Australia's international obligations. International agreements, to which Australia is a signatory, dictate that provision of schooling for asylum seeker children should be of the same standard available to citizens of the host country. AMCO recommends that the provision of schooling for asylum seeker children be equivalent in quantity and quality to opportunities offered to the children of Australian citizens.

1. Pre Schooling

There is a kindy in the Main Compound open for free play between 10am- 12pm, and 2-5pm, with a resident (detainee) school-teacher in charge of the kindy. In November there is free access to for 1½ hours to toys, and in India, kinder gym is being introduced. The latter two are recent initiatives.

2. Schooling pre-adolescent

AMCO welcomes the introduction of offsite schooling for children in Woomera Detention Centre. The provision of schooling, however, is not equivalent to that offered to Australian citizens. Offsite schooling for children aged between 5-11 started in January 2002. Children aged 5-11 attend school in Woomera township for three hours per day, four days per week. At 11 February 2002, 91 children aged 5-11 were attending school. Prior to that date, schooling was extremely limited and did not involve children attending offsite. Families interviewed were very positive about this initiative in offsite education.

Schooling is carried out by qualified teachers with the assistance of detainee teachers, who receive some training. Teachers run three or four age specific classes each half day. Tuition is focused on English as a Second Language, but teachers provide some mathematics and Australian studies, and organised play both indoors and outdoors. There are also fortnightly visits to the swimming pool on Fridays. On alternate fortnights, another activity is arranged.

3. Schooling Adolescent

AMCO is greatly concerned that there is no formal schooling available for teenagers. All adolescents interviewed expressed extreme distress at not being able to access education and activities. Teenagers interviewed by the legal team uniformly reported high levels of boredom, depression and lack of motivation. Involvement of adolescents in adult activities was rare. Adolescents expressed the feeling that "there was nothing to do" and that this was of significant concern to them. Some of them reported that when they first came to Woomera Detention Centre they were keen to be involved in activities. As time passed however and if their applications for temporary protection were rejected, adolescents became too depressed to participate in education or recreational activities.

AMCO is concerned that low participation rates of adolescents in activities are directly related to the management of the detention centre. Adolescent participation rates in education services, structured recreation and informal recreation are extremely low. Adolescents may access 2 ½ hours of ESL tuition per day, four days per week, which includes one hour of computer time. By April 2002, there were 31 male and 7 female adolescents in the camp, with 17 computers available for their use for one hour per day. Adolescents may also access programming available for adults (ESL and computer access). Other activities for teenagers involve gardening, mural painting. Interviewees attribute low attendance to depression amongst asylum seekers caused by the environment and lack of motivation by Australasian Correctional Management program organizers. The ACM activities officer acknowledges that apart from the school, participation in activities is very low. She commented that participation would be very high on intake, but would deteriorate to very low levels, as a consequence of depression and the time taken to process visas.

Women in immigration detention do not have as many opportunities for recreation as men. Women do not have access to the pool due to insensitivity to different cultural approaches to gender issues by Australasian Correctional Management. Adolescents are able to access fortnightly visits to the pool in Woomera, although the females do not accompany males and will instead participate in activities arranged for the housing project.

Adult asylum seekers who speak English are generally critical of provision of education offered to children and in particular, the opportunities English lessons available for adults and adolescents and the standard of the lessons. They note that the level of English comprehension is very low. They suggest that education opportunities are not equivalent to the hours or standard that the Australian community would expect for the children of Australian citizens. Asylum seekers are concerned that they do not see their children progressing in their education. We understand that following the fires, provision of education services have been reduced.

4. Social and sporting activities.

AMCO is extremely concerned that the detention environment strips asylum seeker children of their ability to play. Although Australasian Correctional Management report that children regularly participate in social and sporting activities, most children interviewed do not refer to these activities at all, let alone as significant activities. Many children do not comment on either organised or impromptu sporting and social activity as a feature of their day. Most adolescent children interviewed reported having no friends in the camp, and having no social life. They reported spending day after day doing nothing but moving from meal to meal, lying on their bunks, an existence which is occasionally interrupted by English lessons.

AMCO is concerned about the lack of regular, organised sporting opportunities and the impact of the environment for the development of impromptu sporting activities. Sporting matches are occasionally organized by management, but do not form regular activity. Impromptu ball games are available at any time. A soccer pitch and a volleyball pitch are currently under construction. In the main compound there are two TV's with videos, in other compounds there is a TV in each living unit and videos are available. The use of these services is low.

5. Religion

Children in detention suffer religious discrimination from other children, which is a replication of the discrimination they faced in their home countries, which caused their parents to flee. The exposure of children to the religious tensions of their home countries has a significant detrimental impact on general and religious development.

Many of the children interviewed over this period were Sabian Mundaian and reported ongoing discrimination in the centre from non-Sabian children. This was a significant issue for all children of this faith. The co-location of Sabians and Muslims in one hut caused significant distress.

6. Living conditions

Children in immigration detention suffer the same privation as adults in daily matters such as hygiene, food and facilities. AMCO is concerned that conditions in the centre continue to be cramped, although less so than last year as the numbers of asylum seekers in detention have dropped from about 900 to about 300 when the interviews were conducted. The state of toilets and showers and access to them is a common cause of complaint. There is no privacy.

7. Mental Health

AMCO is concerned that the detention environment is not conducive to good mental health in adults or children. Parents of pre adolescent children consistently reported behaviour such as bed wetting, night terrors and crying. Most adolescent children reported significant levels of depression. Many adolescents report that they do not feel safe. Female adolescents from the Sabian Mundaian religion report feeling afraid of sexual assault. Many adolescents were concerned about the depression experienced by their whole family. They expressed a sense of loss particularly regarding educational opportunities. Adolescent children all feel a deep sense of injustice that they are imprisoned. They expressed anger and resentment toward those who have been released, such as the frequent plea: "Why are they free and I am in jail".

AMCO is concerned that mental health services are insufficient to meet the needs of asylum seekers in detention both adults and children and will not be successful in the detention environment. Psychologists report that the mental health issues that asylum seekers present are not the responsibility of the individual concerned. They are related to the structural environment of detention and are the responsibility of government. Counselling and access to a psychologist is available in detention in Woomera by appointment. One adolescent girl reported that she made an appointment to see the psychologist at a point of crisis, but had to wait two weeks by which time she had forgotten nature of the crisis.

The effect of recent events (rioting, hunger strike, self harm) on children are traumatizing in any context, let alone an already depressed environment. Last year after the use of water cannons during riots, with many detainees observing others being subdued by guards, all families subsequently interviewed over several months reported that children started to suffer increased night terrors, bed-wetting and other overt signs of distress.

8. Children with a disability

AMCO joins National Ethnic Disability Alliance in opposition to the detention of children with a disability. As of the 5th of February there were 16 or (4.2 % ) of children with a disability residing in detention centres at Port Hedland and Woomera. Types of disability include cerebral palsy, hearing impairment, vision impairment, acute dwarfism, trauma, Perthes disease, cardiac, asthmatic and genetic disabilities.

9. Summary

AMCO is extremely distressed by independent evidence of the conditions of children in immigration detention. The widespread despondency, depression, lack of motivation and sense of loss of asylum seeker children is of great concern. The fact that children feel that they are imprisoned, that they have no activities with which to occupy themselves and that older children routinely spend their day doing nothing at all is evidence that the Federal Government, through its system of privately run immigration detention facilities, has failed to provide for the lives of refugee children. In our opinion, the Federal Government's defence that it provides sufficient services for children in detention is a deceit.

The depressed behaviour of asylum seekers in general and children in particular, is directly related to the management of the centre and the general environment in detention. Depression in detention is not an individual but a public responsibility. AMCO is concerned about depression in all individuals at any life stage, but particularly concerned for children who are in the formative stages of development.

Asylum seeker children should not be detained. Whilst significantly greater access to education, activities, social opportunities, and the opportunity to engage in normal family life is desperately needed, it is unlikely that increased services to the standard found in the community can be provided in detention. The detention environment prevents the successful delivery of services to asylum seeker children. The only solution that meets Australia's international obligations is that children should not be detained at all.

AMCO welcomes recent increases in educational opportunities, particularly the practice of offsite education for children aged 5-11. AMCO remains concerned however that educational opportunities are not available to children of all age groups and the provision of services is not equivalent to Australian community expectations for Australian citizens. The quality and duration of education is insufficient for the Australian government to meet its international obligations and national objectives of harmonious community integration of refugees.

Last Updated 9 January 2003.