Publications

Asylum Seekers and Refugees

An age of uncertainty - Inquiry into the treatment of individuals suspected of people smuggling offences who say that they are children

This report makes disturbing reading. It documents numerous breaches by Australia of both the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. As a nation that is understandably anxious that the rights of our own children should be respected when...

Asylum Seekers and Refugees

Those who've come across the seas: Detention of unauthorised arrivals

HREOC’s report, tabled in federal Parliament on 12 May 1998, deals with the policy of mandatory detention of most unauthorised arrivals and the conditions of detention for those detained. The report had its origins in the many complaints received by HREOC from, or on behalf of, people in immigration...

Asylum Seekers and Refugees

A last resort? National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention

This is an important report. It deals with our treatment of children in the most recent wave of boat people seeking refuge and a better life on our shores. It does so in the knowledge that there is a tension created by the community expectation that the Government will defend Australia's security...