Listening to children and young people from refugee backgrounds

Refugee Youth In Focus:
National Forum on young people from refugee backgrounds 

CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

Acknowledgments

Thank you, Carmel. I would like to thank Carmel, Nadine Liddy, and the Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network (MYAN) Australia for inviting me to speak at as part of the plenary session today. I am delighted to be part of the forum and look forward to hearing about the key issues for young refugees.

I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which this meeting takes place – the Gadigal people of the Eora nation - and pay my respects to their elders past and present.

I would also like to acknowledge the other speakers in this session: The Hon Victor Dominello MP, Minister for Citizenship and Communities and Mr Cedrick Kayembe Mulumba, Chair, Australian Youth Forum Steering Committee.

Voices from Pontville

Before I speak briefly about my role as National Children’s Commissioner, and some initial priorities for my work, I would like to share with you some of the sentiments recently expressed by the residents of Pontville - an ‘alternative’ place of detention (APOD) for unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in Australia in Tasmania. I might also point out that I find it misleading to call it an ‘alternative place of detention’, considering it is a secure facility surrounded by high external and internal fences from which the boys are not free to come and go.

I visited Pontville a few weeks ago to hear from the boys about their experiences in detention, and what issues most concerned them. The visit was part of my listening tour on the rights of children, The Big Banter. I will speak more about that a moment.

At the time of my visit to Pontville there were around 250 boys detained there. Myself and a colleague interviewed groups of boys from various backgrounds, covering six language groups. I also spoke to staff at the facility and had a tour of the facility.

Some of the boys’ chief concerns were to do with their length of detention, when they would be released into community detention and mental health issues. A number had been in detention for more than six months. Those who had been there for prolonged periods presented with significant anxiety, depression and feelings of hopelessness.

They also raised concerns about the gaol-like environment, difficulties at school, excursions, phones and clothing, among other things. Here are some of their words, when we asked them about their lives in detention.

Even if you make this place heaven it is not enough for us because we feel like we are in a cage. We feel people see us like animals in a cage.

Four months we have been staying here. Our request is they should get us out of here when we are fit and healthy, not when we are crazy.

Do Australians want us to get out of here crazy?

We stay up all night and sleep all day. We don’t want to go to school because it upsets us to see others free.

At school people stare and laugh at us which makes us feel sad.

We are getting crazy pressure from our families. At 3am if you come here you will see people walking around like crazy because they can’t sleep. There are going crazy so people cut themselves.

We are fed up with people telling us we are going to get out. We don’t mind living on the street, we just want to get out

It saddens me to hear from these children and young people about their fear and uncertainty, and distress at ongoing detention. As children they are developmentally and emotionally very vulnerable, and this is why the Convention on the Rights of the Child stipulates that detention should be a last resort and for the shortest possible time.

I was struck, at the same time, by their willingness to speak to me and their ability to clearly express their views.

We all know it can be difficult for the voices of children to be heard at the best of times, let alone when a child is deprived of their liberty, without family and community support, and dependent entirely on the mercy of the government for the enjoyment of their rights.

And yet, under Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Australia has obligations to ensure that every child has the right to have their views respected, and to have their views taken into account in decisions which affect them. It also has obligations to provide special care and protection to children who come to Australia seeking refuge, especially those who come without the care and protection of their families.¹

National Children’s Commissioner role

As National Children’s Commissioner, there are many ways I can work to promote and protect the rights of all children. Importantly, the legislation which governs my appointment allows me to pay particular attention to vulnerable groups of children within Australia.

My functions, as set out in the Australian Human Rights Commission Act, which you can see on the Powerpoint, give me a wide variety of tools to do this.

In addition, the Commission has existing mechanisms for resolving individual complaints and can intervene in court proceedings that involve children’s rights issues.

Further, as part of a collegiate body at the Australian Human Rights Commission, there are many opportunities to collaborate and build on the important work of the Commission and other Commissioners.

Collaborative work at the Commission

For example, the Commission’s work on the human rights of children in immigration detention is one area of potential collaboration. Many of you would be aware of the Commission’s past work in this area, for example A last resort?: a national inquiry into children in immigration detention in 2004, which recommended that children should only be placed in immigration detention as a last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.

Sadly, although since then successive governments have released children from the most secure, and adult immigration detention facilities, into less restrictive options, many children continue to be detained in immigration detention facilities for many months. Recently published Immigration Department figures in April 2013 showed that as many as 1632 children are in some sort of immigration detention facility, and a further 1224 children in community detention.²

The Commission continues to recommend the release of children from secure detention facilities, and I will work collaboratively with the President of the Commission to highlight the needs of child asylum seekers and children and families in immigration detention.

I am also starting to build up connections with young refugees in the community. As part of that journey, I recently spoke to some young people at a community legal service in Melbourne about their experiences as unaccompanied minors in detention and in care placements, in completing their education, experiencing racism, finding work, and applying for split family reunification.

The development of young people’s resources for the Racism Stops with Me Campaign is another area of Commission work which I have been involved in recently. I am pleased to see that MYAN is a supporter of this campaign.

As part of the campaign, we recently launched a resource called What you say matters, at (school name)  to equip young people with useful information about what racism is, why it happens, who experiences it, where it happens, why it’s a problem, what the law says and, most importantly, what young people can do when they experience of witness racism.

Shannon Williams, otherwise known as Brothablack, and some students from a Sydney high school worked with us to develop a hip hop track and video clip which would send a clear message that racism is not ok, and that racist words have a hurtful and destructive impact. I encourage you all to go onto the What you say matters section of the website and help to circulate it around to people that you know.

Listening to children – The Big Banter

The foundation of all the work by the National Children’s Commissioner, of course, is from a child rights perspective – one which holds decision makers to account; recognises that children have agency as rights-holders; and which is grounded in the articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

As I indicated at the beginning, listening and responding to children and young people’s views is a key priority for me.

Aside from collaborating with the Commission on particular projects, since June I have been undertaking a national listening tour, called The Big Banter. Being here today is part of the banter.

During The Big Banter I will listen and learn from children and young people themselves, and their advocates.  And ask them to help me identify the priorities for my work.

To do this, I have been visiting city and country areas in each state and territory and holding targeted focus groups with diverse groups of children, children’s advocates and with government. I have already spoken to hundreds of children and young people (and some key adults) in the ACT, NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania.

In addition to speaking to children and adults directly, we have launched an online survey and storytelling site for The Big Banter, so that I can hear the views of children and young people who don’t get a chance to speak to me in person.

The Big Banter survey and the storytelling site can be accessed through our Australian Human Rights Commission website at somethingincommon.gov.au/thebigbanter.

Children and young people also go in the running to win a prize if they contribute on the site.

Children and adults can also email my team directly at kids@humanrights.gov.au.

Essentially, I believe we should create an environment whereby children and young people feel they can speak up and have their views taken seriously on issues which affect them. And we need a culture where adults, and the organisations they run, respect those views as relevant.

Children from refugee backgrounds – whether in immigration detention or out in the Australian community – have particular concerns that need to be heard if we are to give them the proper care and protection, and opportunities, they are entitled to.

For myself, I hope to be a better informed and effective advocate because I have been listening to the experts. That is, children and young people - the true experts in their own lives.

Thank you.