More than 300 children committed or threatened self-harm in a 15-month period in Australian immigration detention, 30 reported sexual assault, nearly 30 went on hunger strike and more than 200 were involved in assaults, a damning report from the Australian Human Rights Commission has found.
The long-awaited inquiry into children in immigration detention report, The Forgotten Children, found detention was inherently dangerous for children, and that “prolonged detention is having profoundly negative impacts on the mental and emotional health and development of children”.
“At the time of writing this report, children and adults had been detained for over a year on average.”
There are 257 children in Australian immigration detention, including 119 on Nauru. More than 100 children, previously held on Christmas Island, have been released into the community on the mainland on bridging visas over the past fortnight.
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Triggs also said her commission was subject to “intense scrutiny and hostility” for conducting the inquiry: “The government at the time was initially dismissive of its findings.”
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• Andrew Wilkie: Case against Abbott Government builds at The Hague In October last year Mr Wilkie requested the Prosecutor at the ICC initiate an investigation, in accordance with Article 15(1) of the Rome Statute. In the latest development Mr Wilkie has provided the Prosecutor with a comprehensive brief on this matter. Mr Wilkie said the damning report from the Human Rights Commissioner, Gillian Triggs, tabled in the Senate last night calling for a Royal Commission into children in detention just added more weight to his request for an investigation.
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