Commission Website: National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention
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Submission to National Inquiry
into Children in Immigration Detention from
the Salvation Army - Eastern
Territory
Introduction and Comments
The provisions made by Australia to implement its international human
rights obligations regarding child asylum seekers, including unaccompanied
minors.
The mandatory detention of child asylum seekers and other children
arriving in Australia without visas, and alternatives to their detention.
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:
The impact of detention on the well being and healthy development
of children, including their long-term development.
The additional measures and safeguards which may be required to protect
the human rights and best interests of child asylum seekers and refugees
residing in the community after a period of detention.
General
Introduction and Comments:
The Salvation
Army appreciates the opportunity to contribute to this inquiry.
- The Salvation
Army upholds the principle that a high standard of care, protection
and healthy development of all children within Australia without
discrimination should be regarded as the normal expectation. Australia's
quality standards of child care are high, as reflected in the charters
of such state government bodies as, for example the New South Wales
Department of Community Services. We assert that any lower quality
standards for children who find themselves in immigration detention
is not only unwarranted but is damaging to the child and to future
community well being. This is especially so when it is noted that
the children in immigration detention become the world's adult citizens,
possibly in this country.
- The Salvation
Army is aware that international conventions are not legally binding
on Australia without there having been appropriate legislation enacted.
However, we do acknowledge that such conventions often set standards
which we are morally obliged to uphold as being appropriate for
the care of human life.
- It is our
understanding that the Australian government, through the Department
of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA), is responsible
for the management of all immigration centres. DIMA, in turn, has
contracted the actual operation of these centres to Australasian
Correctional Management (ACM), a commercial service provider. This
arrangement means that ACM is obliged to provide certain minimum
standards of care. The Salvation Army is concerned at the potential
for a conflict of interests whereby need for profit impacts negatively
on the delivery of high standards of care.
Therefore, we
suggest that there should be a high level of accountability by ACM
to the Australian community. Also, the level of accountability to
DIMA should be at least as high as the level of accountability to
the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aging required of providers
of aged care in the Australian community. This, we assert, is especially
so where children are involved.
The following
comments are direct responses to individual terms of reference.
The adequacy
and appropriateness of Australia's treatment of child asylum seekers
and other children who are, or have been held in immigration detention,
including:
1.
The provisions made by Australia to implement its international human
rights obligations regarding child asylum seekers, including unaccompanied
minors.
- Family
life.
The Salvation Army affirms that the family is the basicsocial unit in any community, and that the quality of family life
is particularly important for the healthy development of children.
We are concerned that parental depression and despair as a result
of being in detention centres, can result in impaired quality of
care being given by parents, even to the point of neglect and abuse.
All too often, dealing with a restrictive lifestyle can lead to
depression which takes on a higher priority for the parents than
caring for the children.
Recommendations:
- Families
(which include children) seeking asylum should be accommodated outside
of detention immediately following initial health and security checks
and appropriate registration.
- When it is
necessary for parents to be held in immigration detention, children
should remain with their parents in accommodation that allows for
some family space and privacy.
- As boredom
has been identified as a major cause of depression and threat to
family life we would suggest that 'minimum standards' within detention
centres should include maintenance of routines and constructive
employment of time for both adults and children.
- Unaccompanied
minors
.We would understand that children who arrive in Australia without
proper guardians should be regarded in the same way as Australian
children whose guardianship is the responsibility of the state.
Their unaccompanied arrival may provide a greater risk of abuse
over and above the trauma they have already experienced. Subject
to appropriate checks we would recommend the placement of these
children in suitable accommodation within the community.
2.
The mandatory detention of child asylum seekers and other children
arriving in Australia without visas, and alternatives to their detention.
Recommendations:
- Children
need to be given the highest priority in terms of time in screening
for health issues, and for other issues such as the reasons for
their arrival without visas etcÂ…especially those arriving unaccompanied.
- As already
stated, we believe children ought not to be removed from their families
unless there are extreme circumstances where it would be judged
to be in their best interests to be removed.
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:
- The
conditions under which children are detained
;
Detainees and refugees spoken with have usually said that accommodation
and facilities are reasonably clean and generally safe, although
very cramped.
However, the
children are acutely aware of their isolation, especially in the more
remote centres such as Woomera and Curtin.
The Salvation
Army clearly supports the rules and practices that allow for children
to remain with their parents unless there are special circumstances.
We recognise also that certain conditions in immigration detention
centres are designed such that asylum seekers will be deterred from
choosing to arrive in Australia without proper authority. Therefore
it must follow that children who arrive with their parents will also
be subjected to those 'deterrent' conditions.
While we do not
comment on the appropriateness or otherwise of a 'deterrent' policy,
we are concerned to note that among the most vulnerable and impressionable
people impacted by such a policy, and therefore the conditions in
detention, are children of all ages. As already indicated, we believe
that the impact made on a child has long term repercussions for individuals
as well as the wider Australian community.
The potential
for children to be abused by some adult detainees within the centres
is a matter of concern.
- Health,
including mental health, development and disability
;
Both mental and physical health and development is clearly influenced
by physical surroundings. Stress is identified as a major factor
in some physical illnesses, such as "ear problems". Stress
of course can be induced by a range of factors, and young people
we have spoken with have overwhelmingly commented on the lack of
vegetation such as trees and grass in the detention centres, therefore
contributing to depression and anxiety.
Similarly overwhelming
have been comments on the food provided not reflecting adequate consideration
being given to the kinds of foods that are familiar to the detainees.
Although there has been enough food provided, the food has been largely
unpalatable, and so not eaten. This has led to problems related to
lack of adequate diet, as well as contributing to depression.
There is also
the problem of parents not being able to meet the needs for very small
children to be fed at irregular times. The lack of access to food
other than at strictly observed meal times creates this problem.
Recommendation:
Standards of
food and physical environment need to be at an appropriate level and
well monitored to achieve a less stressful / anxiety producing situation.
- Education:
- Assessment
of education levels of children is difficult to gauge due to:
- Some effects
of trauma suffered by the children in various situations prior
to their arrival in Australia.
- The differing
levels of English language skills.
- The lack
of interpreters provided to the detention centres.
- English
as Second Language
(ESL) becomes the primary focus of educationin the centres. We are aware that in some centres the guards have
been the primary English 'teachers' in informal ways. Reports we
have had have suggested that the guards have been helpful in playing
with children and in general interaction.
We are given
to understand that unfortunately there is a high turnover of staff
in most detention centres. We are concerned that, particularly for
children in the centres on a long term basis, this fact is counterproductive
to providing a sense of continuity necessary for good learning and
indeed, for good mental health.
- There are
extremely limited classroom resources, including classroom availability
itself.
- The provision
of basic equipment such as books, pens/pencils etc., is lacking,
despite repeated appeals to ACM for these items.
- ACM, as the
operator of the detention centres, is the employer of education
staff
- The state
departments of education do not recognise ACM - they do not
take responsibility for providing education in the centre.
- It has
been made plain to education staff members employed in the centres
that they are therefore directly responsible to ACM. This leaves
them with no avenue for directing relevant education matters
that they would, under other circumstances, consult with state
education departments over.
- In most centres
children are given very little schooling unless it is provided by
adult detainees.
Recommendations:
- The provision
of a dedicated classroom or school building close to but reasonably
separated from activities in the main centre would be more conducive
to the purposes of education.
- The state
education departments should be funded and given authority sufficiently
to allow them to undertake:
- The proper
assessment of the education needs and levels of the children in
the centre, enabling a smoother transition to formal schooling in
the community, especially when the child is released from detention.
- English to
be taught in a more efficient way. We would encourage the continued
help of guards in reinforcing the English language.
- A less random
approach to education in the centres. It was reported to us that
during one child's 20 month detention, she was only offered one
term of schooling.
- That teachers
employed in detention centres should be trained and adequately prepared
to handle children affected by trauma.
4.
The impact of detention on the well being and healthy development
of children, including their long-term development.
- The Salvation
Army as an international organisation is very aware that children
in immigration detention centres have been exposed to traumatic
experiences prior to their arrival in Australia. Most, but not all
detainees or former detainees we have spoken to, declared they had
not been overly exposed to further violence or overt ill treatment
during detention. One comment we received was that the violence
in Woomera was much less than the violence witnessed previously
in the country of origin. However, the fact that children are in
this mandatory detention where they do witness further violence,
exacerbates the effects of already existing trauma.
Recommendation:
We submit that
if children are to be kept in mandatory detention the opportunity
is there for specialised post trauma treatment to be provided. This
would be a best possible outcome for the detention experience.
Particularly
in focus would be specialised group therapy designed to help children
accept the changes in their circumstances, having been removed from
their home country and environment. A similar kind of therapy situation
has proven very effective for children of divorced parents who must
grow to cope with a situation that cannot be changed.
- The Salvation
Army has been made aware that in many cases, periods of detention
in Australia for children have been for as long as 14 to 20 months,
in some cases longer. This may have been after longer periods of
detention or some other kinds of confinement in other places. It
is well known that such time spans are experienced as being much
longer for children than they are for adults.
Recommendations:
- The Salvation
Army would welcome measures that:
- speed up the
processing of the claims and appeals of asylum seekers who are in
detention, and/or
- investigate
means whereby asylum seekers could be monitored in the community
while waiting for a final decision to be made on residency, and/or
- investigate
and implement ways of helping to alleviate the conditions in those
countries of origin which lead to refugee flight.
5.
The additional measures and safeguards which may be required to protect
the human rights and best interests of child asylum seekers and refugees
residing in the community after a period of detention.
- Provision
of better information to families concerning cultural and legal
expectations of people living in Australian community is necessary.
- A Temporary
Protection Visa (TPV) precludes enrolment in TAFEs and universities
without 'up-front' payment of fees. This becomes a disincentive
for children to take school seriously, or to aim for any education.
It is also a factor in ongoing depression. This in turn has an affect
on the smooth running of those schools involved.
Recommendations:
- That a visa
indicating permanent residency should be made available within a
time frame that would be an incentive for children to maximise their
potential in school.
- That adult
and higher education should be available to holders of a TPV without
inflicting extra financial hardship on those seeking to enrol in
appropriate courses. This is especially the case for those seeking
to enrol in English language classes.
- Provision
of better information concerning resources legitimately available
to families/children for education, health care etc.
Concluding
recommendation:
We would submit
that there should be:
- A renegotiation
of the contract between DIMA and ACM.
- A review of
the role of ACM by an independent body to ensure a high standard of
service delivery congruent with the Immigration Detention Guidelines.
Last
Updated 9 January 2003.
