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Submission to National Inquiry
into Children in Immigration Detention from
the Ethnic Childcare, Family
and Community Services Co-operative Ltd
Comments
on the Australian Community
of services in the community
available through the multicultural policy
statement
inquiry welcome
and specific examples and information in this submission
rights and the rights of the child
and nutrition
treatment and accommodation of disabilities
and social well-being
and identity
issues
and the alternatives
We commend HREOC
for instituting this Inquiry and thank them for giving us the opportunity
to make input on an issue which is of grave concern to the Co-operative
which, for 23 years has been advocating for the rights and needs of immigrant
children and their families in a diverse multicultural society.
The philosophy underpinning
the Ethnic Childcare, Family and Community Services Co-operative is social
justice, with particular emphasis on Multiculturalism and access and equity
in Children's, Aged and Disability Services. The Co-operative is committed
to ensure that every person under the jurisdiction of the government of
Australia and who is from a non-English Speaking background be provided
with the opportunity to participate and receive services that are relevant,
sensitive and appropriate to his or her linguistic, cultural and religious
needs.
GENERAL
COMMENTS
We deplore and condemn
the Australian government's treatment of asylum seekers with its policy
of mandatory detention and non-reviewable detention of most unauthorised
arrivals, which is in breach of its international human rights obligations,
contravenes many international treaties to which it is signatory and has
challenged our values as a democratic, humanitarian, multicultural society
and the ideal of "a fair go for all".
Children are the
future citizens of the world and are the most precious resource of any
country. They are dependent on adults for their survival and development
physically, emotionally, psychologically and socially. They, with the
aged and infirm are the most vulnerable members of the community. Therefore,
laws and legislation are enacted by countries, individually and at an
international level, collectively, for their care and protection. The
Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) which Australia signed in
1990, is a comprehensive treaty covering all areas of a child's life and
all children regardless of their immigration status are entitled to the
full enjoyment of the rights as outlined in the Convention.
Australia with the
mandatory detention and treatment of children of asylum seekers in detention
centres contravenes many articles of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child and these are Articles: 2, 3(1), 5, 6, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18,
19, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 34, 37 and 39. The body of the submission
refers to these articles and the way they are contravened by the government,
presents the Co-operative's position and proposes recommendations to address
the situation.
Australia is breaching
the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) and its 1967
Protocol (The Refugee Convention) and the UNHCR Guidelines for Refugee
Children: Guidelines on Protection and Care (1999) chapter 7, which states:
" Minors
who are asylum seekers should not be detained. Because detention can
be very harmful to refugee children, it must be 'used as a measure of
last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time'".
The UNHCR Guidelines
consider unaccompanied minors as a vulnerable group and provide an outline
for alternative care arrangements for unaccompanied and accompanied children
to be:
- In the care of
family members who already have residency in the country
- Be placed in residential
homes for children
- Placed in foster
care
- The state authorities
to provide supervision, and guardianship
Children of asylum
seekers and refugees who are in detention centres should be accorded the
same rights as ALL Australian children and be protected by the same regulations,
laws, Acts which apply to Australian children. Denial of these rights
is a breach of these laws and regulations and those who breach these laws
are to be dealt with according to these laws.
It is not a new event
in Australia, that of asylum seekers who come from countries where armed
conflict has been the norm and who ended up in our shores looking for
a peaceful place to bring up their children and make it their home. What
has changed is our treatment of them under the privatised detention centres.
Since privatisation
of the management of our detention centres to Australasian Correctional
Management, we have seen the processing of these people and the abusive
and neglectful incidents and situations that have now arisen from ACM's
operational methodology. The Co-operative is very concerned about the
unwillingness of DIMIA and ACM to engage the well established and capable
government services, departments and agencies and community organisations
that could support the rights of children in detention.
The Co-operative
has noted the vilification of 'boat people' as they attempt to arrive
in Australia to make their lawful claims and the way that the media has
run the story with little to no access to the claimants themselves, a
virtual 'blanket ban' on interviews with the asylum seekers or media scrutiny
of the activities in the centres, maintained by DIMIA and ACM. The Co-operative
now believes that the treatment of detainees in Australian detention centres
who have legitimate claims for asylum pending, contravenes international
Conventions which Australia is a signatory to, namely the Convention on
Refugees, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Human Rights
Charter. The shameful treatment of asylum seekers, especially those on
the Tampa and the families who were vilified for 'throwing their children
overboard', has cast Australia both internationally and locally as racist
and inhumane.
The hasty changes
that are currently being made to our immigration laws in order to imposed
harsh measures against these people, the government's desire and the opposition's
agreement to make an example of this group of 'boat people' at this particular
time in our history in order to deter more coming to our shores and for
political gain has created an uninformed, distorted public debate of hate
and racial tensions in the community. This is costing taxpayers millions
of dollars to keep refugees and asylum seekers in detention for months
and in a significant number, years rather than weeks. The longer-term
impact of the federal government's 'Pacific Solution' to keep more and
more off our shores has damaged Australia's social fabric in ways that
many of us may not even be aware of yet. The internal political effects
on neighbouring governments (e.g. Papua New Guinea, Nauru) now 'warehousing'
thousands of adults and children (some of whom have one parent on shore
in Australia) is now being reported by the local media, concern from the
Co-operative has also contributed to the terms of reference of this submission
as families remain separated indefinitely.
The refugee situation
is a worldwide phenomenon, and there will be more and more people displaced
by armed conflict, repressive regimes and globalisation. Therefore, this
situation cannot be resolved by one country imposing harsh laws to keep
them out, rather it has to be resolved by dialogue, not wars, through
structures such as the United Nations which has been set up to bring all
nations together to find peaceful, collective solutions to the world's
problems.
EFFECTS
ON THE AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY
The tragic events
of 11 September 2001 and the measures being taken against the asylum seekers
by the Commonwealth government have had repercussions here in Australia,
where Australians from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds that
make up our multicultural society, have been subjected to racial and discriminatory
attacks by people who are prejudiced and influenced by the irresponsible,
sensational handling of the events in America by the media. 1. Were Australia
to support the resolution of conflict by peaceful dialogue, negotiation
and conciliation by the different parties through the United Nations,
this may also serve to respond to the growing number of refugees and asylum
seekers in a meaningful way, at the source.
Whether they are
Australian citizens, permanent residents, Temporary Protection Visa Holders
or asylum seekers, we believe that everyone is entitled to equal human
rights in Australia no matter what their origin. It is totally unacceptable
to the Co-operative for any children, women, men, people with disabilities
or older persons, no matter what background, to be attacked physically
and/or verbally because of their religious, racial or other backgrounds
or because they dress or 'look different', by individuals in the community,
government departments or through the media. Placing unsubstantiated 'blame'
for what is happening in other parts of the world and holding groups or
individuals responsible here because of their ethnicity, religious beliefs
or cultural practices, including dress, unethical and un-Australian.
Much stronger ethical
and moral leadership is now needed as a matter of urgency.
The common core of
our Multicultural Policy which is based on the principles of the belief
in peace, justice, equality and compassion and respect for human life
could continue be built upon by both state and federal government agencies.
Several months ago they did bring together religious and community leaders
from ethnic communities to talk about the conflicts in the community about
these issues, communicate with each other and form the links to learn
from each other and demystify their religious doctrines. Much more work,
however is needed.
Leadership and compassion
'from the top down' is also important to encourage people in the Australian
community to continue to come together to learn from each other. Ignorance
is a breeding ground for the growth of more fear, irrational behaviours
and the proliferation of racist centred popular media driven debates and
reactions.3
WITHHOLDING
OF SERVICES IN THE COMMUNITY:
HARDSHIP EXPERIENCED BY CHILDREN AND FAMILIES ON TPV'S AND THOSE ON THE
TWO YEAR WAITING PERIOD TO ACCESS SERVICES
Of serious concern
is the health and welfare of the children and families with Temporary
Protection Visas (TPVs). The lack of settlement services currently being
provided to them and their threatened forced repatriation is evident,
as the first group of Temporary Protection Visas will expire in May 2002,
this month.
Of particular distress
to the Co-operative is the reluctance of the New South Wales government
to provide subsidized funding for all settlement services in this state
for TPVs, where those services are not being funded by DIMIA. In the case
of NSW according to The Refugee Council of Australia, Executive Officer,
Margaret Piper, there are around 44% of six to seven thousand TPVs in
New South Wales currently.
In every other state
or territory with significant numbers of TPV holders (e.g. Queensland
and Victoria and South Australia), state governments have provided supplementary
funding to community sector to help the services who would usually provide
settlement services to refugees and asylum seekers and their children.
The Co-operative is concerned about the physical, mental and health risk
to those children as their parents discover that they are no longer eligible
to ever claim permanent residence in Australia because of the new legislation.
There are also thousands
of children of newly arrived 'Skilled Immigration' and 'Family Reunion'
migrants who still have to wait for two years to access certain services
and benefits which are enjoyed by all Australians are discriminatory and
detrimental to the interests of the child and its family.
According to research
by the Welfare Rights Centre, ACOSS, the Brotherhood of St. Laurence and
case studies from community services who endeavour to assist these families,
the families and children are disadvantaged, are treated as second class
citizens, some live in extreme poverty, they do not have proper health
care, do not have access to child care and other family support services,
cannot access federal employment and state training programs, and have
no income security to ensure a quality of life for their children while
they attempt to fill labour had market gaps to which we had invited them
to migrate to fill here in Australia. It is little wonder that these groups
are mainly staying around the city areas, in this state at least, where
their own ethnic communities support them as best they can.
The Co-operative's
position is that all persons living under Australia's jurisdiction, irrespective
of their visa status, following their release into the community must
have access to all services and benefits equally. The social consequences
(seen and unseen) far out weigh the financial costs. The severe and inhumane
restrictions which are the 'descriptors' that separate the Temporary Protection
Visa which is being issued to those lawful refugees and asylum seekers,
who have proven their claim, must be repealed immediately. The two-year
waiting period services for newly arrived migrants should also be abolished.
The social impact of both is extensive.
LEADERSHIP
AVAILABLE THROUGH THE MULTICULTURAL POLICY
The role of a community
organisation such as the Cooperative is vital in facilitating understanding.
We have been doing this since our inception in 1979, but now more than
ever; Australia's Multicultural Policy with its rights and responsibilities
is both precious and invaluable. This policy espouses the principles of
human rights, social justice, equality of opportunity and the rights,
freedoms and obligations of people in our diverse pluralist society to
practice their culture, language, religion and to participate fully in
the society we all share and that this value is what makes us Australian.
Australia's multiculturalism
played a large role in the procuring, staging and successfully completing
the historical event of the century, the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000.
Multicultural Policy could see us through these difficult times regarding
the treatment of asylum seekers and the general fear in the community
if we only apply it in times of service and social justice as well as
celebration.
PRINCIPLE
STATEMENT
All children and
their families need to be released immediately from all immigration detention
centres into based community care.
We call for an immediate
parliamentary inquiry into Australian Immigration Centres (with national
and international monitors, as a cultural and social audit) be called
into the relationship between DIMIA and ACM, the use and miss-use of funds
in relation to accountability and the lack of transparency on accountability
to the Australian public and concerned interest groups both in Australia
and international.
We unequivocally
state that all children asylum seekers (and their parents and/or carers)
on Australia's soil or within our federal or states governments' jurisdiction
are being further traumatised, injured, neglected, while we deny their
civil and human rights under international conventions by mandatory detention
for unacceptable amounts of time.
HREOC
INQUIRY WELCOME
The announcement
by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission of the Inquiry in
Children in Detention is welcomed and we anticipate this will lead to
the development of different strategies to afford us all the will to behave
in a more humane way towards those fleeing to our shores. Resolution of
the present situation in immigration detention centres and the broader
issues of the unsatisfactory and unnecessary hardship and suffering that
is being perpetrated on children of asylum seekers and who are currently
under Australia's jurisdiction must be an absolute priority now. The persecution
of children whoever their parents, and whatever their circumstance can
never be allowed to become 'tolerable'.
Through our membership
of international organisations such as UNICEF, OMEP, DCI, IFWC, HREOC,
the Co-operative is able to make contributions by working with these bodies
to safeguard the rights of children of the world. The Cooperative was
nominated by UNICEF as a Non-Government Organisation to send a representative
to the United Nations General Assembly on the Special Session for Children
which has been rescheduled for 7 to 10 May, 2002 in the UN Headquarters
in New York and the Co-operative will be represented. It is our aspiration
that some positive outcomes will result from this significant meeting.
In light of the worldwide situation, the rights and interests of children
are greatly at risk. In our world now in 'war mode' the priority is given
to defence spending and the financial resources are relocated from 'essential
services' to finance the war effort, wherever you live.
There have been many
economic, health and medical and political changes and historical events
that have occurred around the world that have challenged and 'put to the
test' our values as Australians, that is as a democratic, humanitarian,
multicultural and pluralist society. What does our ideal of a 'fair go
for all' mean now in light of the way detainees are treated in detention?
The Ethnic Childcare,
Family and Community Services Co-operative Ltd is well placed to provide
legitimate and meaningful comment to the Inquiry and welcomes this opportunity.
The Co-operative acknowledges that:
Treaties that
have been ratified by Australia, such as the Convention on the Rights
of the Child, are binding on Australia in international law. The implementation
of treaty rights of people in Australia are monitored by United Nations
treaty bodies, such as the Committee on the Rights of the Child or the
Human Rights Committee.
The fact that
Australia has ratified a treaty does not automatically incorporate it
into Australian domestic law. Only when treaty provisions are incorporated
into Australian law do they create enforceable rights in Australia.
However, courts should interpret a law to be consistent with the provisions
of a treaty that Australia has ratified.
Other
international documents and instruments such as United Nations Rules,
General Comments by treaty bodies, United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees guidelines, United Nations General Assembly Declarations
and publications by United Nations agencies are not binding on Australia
as a matter of international law. They are, however, persuasive in interpreting
treaties and contain goals and aspirations reflecting a consensus of
world opinion.
Background
Papers, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Inquiry into Children
in Detention 2002
The Co-operative's
work is driven by our commitment to the rights and responsibilities inherent
in the Multicultural policy in Australia. In line with the Commonwealth
Government Access and Equity Policy, the Co-operative endeavours to ensure
that services are equitable and accessible to all people living in our
community. It is from this position that the Co-operative presents this
submission regarding children in detention centres in Australia.
SCENARIOS
AND SPECIFIC EXAMPLES AND INFORMATION IN THIS SUBMISSION
The ECCF&CS Co-operative
has discussed the conditions in one particular detention centre in Australia
with a former detainee (who shall be referred to as 'the adviser' throughout
the submission where relevant). The adviser has a relevant professional
background (health/welfare) and has generously provided the instances
and specific examples that appear throughout this submission, and are
marked as such.
They refer to a particular
time and place, which have not been provided in this document but which
can be verified upon request. In order to protect that person and the
specific examples and information provided to us. The actual centre and
the identity of both the former detainee and individual children and their
parents have been omitted intentionally.
Each area of the
Inquiry has been addressed.
The ECCF&CS Co-operative
supports and embraces the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and
therefore has framed this submission with recommendations in relation
to that convention and related refugee conventions that are recognised
worldwide.
1. REFUGEE
RIGHTS AND THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
The Convention on
the Rights of the Child states:
In all actions
concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social
welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative
bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.
Article
3(1), Convention on the Rights of the Child
1A) THE CO-OPERATIVE'S
POSITION
As the Cooperative's
major aim is to advance the rights of children and their families, we
have been concerned with the well being of some approximately 600 hundred
children and their families who are currently in mandatory detention at
centres in Australia. Some are unaccompanied minors and all are considered
by the Co-operative to be 'at risk' of abuse, assault and neglect.
The rights of children
in detention centres are being violated by the government, who is breaching
a number of the Articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
It is internationally recognised and accepted that children, women, the
frail and aged must be given priority in conflict and at-risk situations
and be protected from harm. We as a country are in breach of our duty
of care to the children of asylum seekers and the matter is extremely
serious and damaging to everyone concerned, but paramount to innocent
babies and children.
In the case of children,
no matter who they are, where they come from, they should be accorded
the same rights as all Australian children, whose rights are enshrined
in the Child Care and Protection Act, Children's Services legislation,
Education and Health legislation of the Commonwealth and the states. Prolonged
detention and exposure to violent, harsh, unstable, unstimulating environments
have detrimental effects on the psychological, physical and emotional,
social and intellectual development of these children and leads to mental
health, social and other problems in the future.
These children are
deprived of their right to an identity, a safe and secure environment,
a happy childhood, an education, to play, to live within a family and
their community, and have freedom to practice their language, culture
and religion.
No government or
authority can deny them these basic human rights.
1B) RECOMMENDATION:
1.1 Mandatory
detention of the children of asylum seekers and their treatment and conditions
prevailing in the detention centres in Australia contravenes Article 3
(1) of the CRC as the principle of "best interest of the child"
is not considered in decision making, in provision of essential services,
resources for their development and well being.
1.2 The policy
of mandatory detention of asylum seekers and refugees in Australia should
be abolished.
1.3 That asylum
seeker families and/or carers with dependent children be prioritised for
assessment and that all children and their families/carer givers be released
into the community immediately following the most basic health and character
checks, without further mandatory detention of any kind, as a mater of
urgency.
2.
HEALTH AND NUTRITION
In regards to health
and nutrition, The UN Convention and the World Health Organisation says:
States Parties
recognise the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable
standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and
rehabilitation of health. States Parties shall strive to ensure that
no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care
services.
Article
24, Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The States Parties
to the present Covenant recognise the right of everyone to the enjoyment
of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Article
12, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Health is a
state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely
the absence of disease or infirmity.
World
Health Organisation definition of "health" in the Preamble
to the Constitution of the World Health Organisation.
2A) THE CO-OPERATIVE'S
POSITION
The Co-operative
believes says that every child, regardless of nationality or immigration
status and regardless of how the child arrived in Australia deserves the
highest standard of health and rehabilitation. Every child has the right
to attain his or her maximum physical and mental health regardless of
legal status. Where children in detention centres are of poor health and
nutritional status as a result of their incarceration in the centre, Australia
is in direct breach of the convention.
Culturally, linguistically
and developmentally appropriate health care needs to be provided in order
for babies and children to grow and develop naturally. Nutritionally balanced,
culturally appropriate and hygienically safe food needs to have been made
available at all times. Consideration in providing culturally and religiously
appropriate foods for children, which has the support of their parents,
is fundamental to the child's sense of safety and well being for children
and small babies to grow.
All families should
be encouraged and supported to prepare culturally and religiously appropriate
food for their family themselves. Privacy and a nurturing environment
where families can maintain their special relationships, particularly
around meal times is very important to young children and babies in relation
to their sense of belonging and community.
Appropriate housing,
that nurtures the family structure and it's relations, where parents providing
food and drinks to their children and babies are essential to provide
a sense of nurturing to each child, being able to affect their child's
environment, to control it in at least some way, for small children. The
environment characterised in the media coverage and reports from former
detainees and staff, which is undermining the role of parents in the eyes
of their children or worse attacking, injuring or threatening parents
in front of their children is very dangerous to the mental health of children.
It has been proven to be akin to assaulting the children themselves and
constitutes a form of child abuse syndrome, a post traumatic stress syndrome
similar to that experienced by children from domestic violence.7
It needs to be mentioned
that the children who are the subject of this inquiry may have already
been deprived of healthy food for long periods of time in their countries
of origin and during their journey to Australia.
ADVISER TESTIMONIAL
There is a generally
poor standard of nutritional value in the food (e.g. rice and soup a
lot). The type of food and the preparation of it is inappropriate food
for young children. For example, there is no provision of food pureed
or cut into small pieces for babies and younger children.
Each 'detainee'
is allowed to drink only one cup of milk per day. This includes babies
and children. The adviser said that s-he observed a high level of anaemia
amongst the children (in the detention centre) which s-he attributes
to a diet that is lacking in protein.
The adviser
observed that the diet is not nutritionally balanced especially for
children and babies. This was an on-going situation during the said
period. For example, only one egg per week was provided to detainees.
There was only one piece of fruit allowed for detainees per day. This
included children, who only ever got exactly the same diet and meals
as the adults. The nutritional needs of babies and children were not
considered in any way.
Monitoring of
nutritional value of the food being provided and health services offered
There was no
monitoring of children or babies what so ever. Only where the health
of the baby or child was brought to the health professionals' attention
by the parent was any child of baby ever examined by a medical professional
there was no paediatric doctor ever observed in (name of centre) during
that period. No specialist paediatric doctors were ever sighted in the
centre.
During the time
in which these examples are located, there were one thousand, four hundred
and seventeen detainees at the Centre. The clinic was attended by four
general practitioners each day from 9.00 am to 1.00 PM each day only.
There were no
dental services provided on site at the Centre at that time. Any real
emergency required the detainee to be taken outside to the township
to get dental care or any kind.
No early child
hood teachers were ever seen or consulted to provide early learning
activities and encourage age appropriate early childhood development
for the babies, toddlers and young children in the centre.
No sport and
recreation officers were ever provided by ACM to organise activities
for children to encourage their development in fine and gross motor
skills for example or to encourage learning and development through
play.
No food or drinks
are available to the detainees to give children on request from their
parents outside the designated meal times.
There was a
lack of consistency of health care staff for children and babies. It
was observed that medical and health staff did not last long at the
centre. Staff turnover was very high with the average length of time
that any nursing staff staying at the centre as six weeks.
In one particular
instance, one doctor lasted only one month. When the adviser asked him
why he was leaving he said that he had prescribed medication for a child.
ACM had refused to purchase the medication for the child. He said he
could not stay working at the centre because of this.
Three Babies
born in Detention
During the time
at the centre, the adviser said s-he recalled three babies being born.
Women were taken to the hospital in the township of (name of centre)
to give birth. ACM did not permit any of the three women to be accompanied
by their husbands/partners or any other friend/detainee (including another
woman) as a support person for the birth.
Following the
return to the (name of the centre), the babies were never taken again
to paediatric checks at the hospital baby health clinic in the township.
No health checks were made of the babies unless requested by the parents
and this was by doctors in the clinic only.
There were no
cots, prams or strollers provided and although all three women came
back with a small bundle of baby goods and clothing, this did not last
long since newborn babies grow so quickly. After that, the second hand,
ill fitting clothing was the only source of clothing, even for young
babies under one year of age.
No specific,
actual baby food is prepared or provided to the detainees for their
babies or young children and toddlers.
Health Screening
of Children
Upon arrival each
child's health status should be assessed and ongoing monitoring for any
deficiencies, disabilities or chronic illnesses that may have derived
from lack of access to health services in the country of origin or may
have occurred during the travel period to Australia.
Individualised health
care and nutrition programs should be available to all child asylum seekers
in order to ensure that every child receives preventative as well as remedial
health care immediately upon arriving in Australia. Since a majority of
the children shall be released into the community, it is logical to provide
this level of intervention sooner rather than later.
Specific Health
Services for pregnant Women in Detention
Culturally and linguistically
appropriate pre-natal and post-natal care should be available for pregnant
women. Easy access to specialist mental health (counselling) should be
available.
Culturally and linguistically
appropriate pre and post-natal education for mothers, and encouragement
to breastfeed their babies for up to one year. Of course all of these
services and advocacy groups exist in the community in Australia and are
therefore readily available. Where the mother is having difficulties in
breastfeeding early assistance from cross-culturally trained health professionals,
a lactation consultant or a breastfeeding counsellor should be provided,
as would be the case if she were to be living in the community.
Health and Nutrition
Standards in Australia
In order to access
the highest standard of health in Australia, which is their right, children
and babies must be provided with the opportunity that appropriate space,
equipment and education that encourages and facilitates physical activity
and sport.
- Health care professionals
in Australia are cross-culturally trained in all areas of health care
- Professional
health and welfare interpreter services could be readily accessible
- Access to early
childhood services after birth, infants and children after the age of
five years with support from their own ethnic/religious communities
Health and Nutrition-
effects of the Temporary Protection Visa category, Post Detention
It is again important
to note that following the release of children whose families/carers have
successfully proven their claim for asylum (but who have spent seven days
in a so called safe country) are then faced with the lack of access to
specialist settlement services. The DIMIA has created a visa type, the
Temporary Protection Visa Holders through the recently rushed through
legislation, that denies children asylum seekers and humanitarian entrants
and their families and carers (for a second time in Australia) the support
that a strengthened family unit can give a child. The structures of families
are already fragile after their time in detention, many have experienced
the death of a parent or close family member. The use of denial of service
is in humane and dangerously stressful to families with children and babies.
Parents with TPVs
have an inadequate level of services that will enable them to settle in
Australia or even function on a daily basis. The services being denied
include no access to the usual free five hundred and ten hours of English
classes, no access to Job Network employment services and the specialist
settlement services such as housing advocacy, independent legal counsel
through legal aid (their lawyers are appointed by DIMIA). Even specialist
trauma and torture counselling is being denied these families.
2B) RECOMMENDATION:
2.1 That children
asylum seekers and their parents and carer givers be afforded the same
level of access to health services, dietary and food that are available
to all other children in Australia -effective immediately.
3.
PREVENTION, TREATMENT AND ACCOMMODATION OF DISABILITIES
The UN Convention
says:
States Parties
recognise that a mentally or physically disabled child should enjoy
a full and decent life, in conditions that ensure dignity, promote self-reliance
and facilitate the child's active participation in the community.
Article
23 (1), Convention on the Rights of the Child.
States Parties
recognize the right of the disabled child to special care and shall
encourage and ensure the extension, subject to available resources,
to the eligible child and those responsible for his or her care, of
assistance for which application is made and which is appropriate to
the child's condition and to the circumstances of the parents or others
caring for the child.
Article
23 (2), Convention on the Rights of the Child
Recognising
the special needs of a disabled child, assistance shall be designed
to ensure that the disabled child has effective access to and receives
education, training, health care services, rehabilitation services,
preparation for employment and recreation opportunities in a manner
conducive to the child's achieving the fullest possible social integration
and individual development, including his or her cultural and spiritual
development.
Article
23 (3), Convention on the Rights of the Child
3A) THE CO-OPERATIVE'S
POSITION
If children are kept
in immigration detention centres, there is a need to ensure that every
child has adequate nutrition, exercise, and educational activities such
as drama, singing, painting and fun. This includes children with disabilities.
Children with disabilities often have additional health needs associated
with their disability.
On arrival, there
is a need to ensure the health of all babies and children. Where a child
or baby has a disability, the steps to ensure that his or her health can
development both physically, mental and psychologically must be planned
and delivered through targeted, individual service program plans for that
child with a disability. Early intervention is essential in order to restrict
the impact and severity of any disability on the child's development.
To do this occupational
therapists, physical therapists, early childhood teachers, education officers
and speech therapists from organisations such as STARTTS, The Spastic
Centre of NSW, NSW Community Health can be made available. These services
can devise an individual program for each child with the involvement of
the family, but it would need to be outside the detention centre environment.
If this were done, it would ensure that the child with disabilities has
the same access to a healthy environment that children without disabilities
are also entitled, in Australia under the Convention (on the Rights of
the Child, to which we are a signatory).
There is also a need
for children with disabilities to be released with their parents and siblings
into the community so that the detention environment does not unnecessarily
aggravate any disability. The recent media coverage of the breakdown of
individuals and groups of detainees illustrates frustration due to the
lengthy time asylum seekers have to spend in detention awaiting various
departmental checks or for the completion of their appeal process once
their application has been rejected. In such an environment any existing
disability would be aggravated and lead to the development of more anxiety,
extension of longer periods of short-term attention span and a reduction
in his or her ability to develop, learn and grow to anything like full
potential.
We understand that
the health screening is quite limited, that is to the assessment of tuberculosis,
hepatitis B, HIV/AIDS, for example things what are contagious only. The
level of screening would not cover such disabilities as diabetes, cerebral
palsy, Acquired Brain Injury, any intellectual or impairment. We understand
that children are not even mental illness for psychological disability
such depression and severe anxiety. This seems very strange to the Co-operative
because the children are already traumatised and Australia has so many
excellent practitioners in child mental health. Given that youth suicide
is a major health concern in Australia it appears short sighted to allow
these conditions to go unchecked in the hope that these children will
be rejected as refugees and be returned to the country of origin and off
our shores!
Health screening
mechanisms must inform health service planning and delivery for Children
with Disabilities
Comprehensive physical
and psychological assessments and screening are needed in order to inform
the health service planning and delivery in all areas for detainees but
even more so with children with disabilities. This is standard best practice
in all areas of the disability service sector in Australian and is a fundamental
tenant of the Disability Act. The Disability Service Standards also provide
for consumer participation in this planning process, which is also currently
absent from administrative framework of the imprisonment of children in
immigration detention centres in Australia who have disabilities.
The Well Being And
Healthy Development Of Children With Disabilities, Including Their Long-Term
Health Development
In general, it is
agreed amongst experts that a lack of or denial of appropriate and culturally
suitable early identification and appropriate intervention is likely to
lead to:
- Delayed development
for child with disabilities
- Increased and
continuing poor health for the child with disabilities
- The development
of patterns of movement and behaviour that inhibit functional patterns
for children with disabilities
- An increase of
frustration and demonstrated difficult behaviours
- An increased level
of worry and uncertainty for parents
Children with disabilities
need early intervention and expert assessment of their conditions and
needs Children with disability are more vulnerable than the average child
to poor nutrition. Hearing and visual defects need to be detected early
to prevent secondary deficits. Failure to recognise their disabilities
can lead to emotional and behaviour difficulties due to unreasonable demands
being placed on them. Like all children, children with disability need
acceptance and love, a stable environment, and realistic nurturing.
Over fifty years
of research on children with many types of disabilities receiving a range
of specialised services in many different settings has produced evidence
that early intervention can:
- Ameliorate, and
in some cases, prevent developmental problems
- Result in fewer
children being retained in later grades
- Reduce educational
costs to school programs; and
- Improve the quality
of parent, child, and family relationships
Early intervention
may begin at any time between birth and school age; however, there are
many reasons for it to begin as early as possible. There are three primary
reasons for intervening:
- To enhance the
child's development
- To provide support
and assistance to the family, and
- To maximise the
child's and family's benefit to society
This is what the
immigration detention centres are producing in the case of children with
disabilities. Ethnic Child Care Family & Community Service is a provider
experienced in devising educational and developmental programs for children
with disabilities through their Children's Services Project Officers,
Trainers, Supplementary Workers Team, Casual Ethnic Workers Pool and Multicultural
Respite Service that has led to the improvements in their physical, emotional
and social development.
The federal government's
privatisation of the management of immigration detention centres has excluded
most services, especially those based on a social justice and community
development model from working with the detainees. We therefore, have
no direct experience working with children with disabilities in detention
centres. Even establishing the level of disabilities from DIMIA data,
it is not data that relates to the children who are detention now, but
based of past years.8 The 'prison like' atmosphere and absence of services
in detention centres (but which are freely available in the Australian
continent) will have long term and serious effects for the child with
disability, their family and ethnic community as well as the Australian
community at large.
The affect of the
denial of these intervention services upon children' with disabilities
capacities in all areas of their development and rights as human beings
has been well documented the Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association
(MDAA) in their submission paper to this inquiry.
'Children with
disability have all the needs that ordinary children have and by definition
many of these are unable to be met in the confines of a detention centre.
Children with disability have a number of additional needs that are
particularly compromised by their life in detention '
Multicultural
Disability Advocacy Association, Submission to Children in Detention
Inquiry 2002
To the best of The
Co-operative's knowledge and consultations with the community, there are
no facilities for children with disabilities in Australian Detention centres.
This is direct contravention of Australia's obligations both internationally
and locally which are legislated in Australia.
The Co-operative
believes that no standards are being adhered to and further that there
is no transparency or accountability to the public regarding the standard
of detention centres. They are being disregarded, ignored and flaunted.
Community based, empowering organisations such as The Co-operative and
MDAA are not invited or permitted to enter immigration detention centres
to assist parents and children with disabilities.
The Co-operative
must judge from the reports from media, which are limited (staff at the
detention centres must sign a 'no talk' clause in their employment contract).
However it appears, children with disabilities are not treated equally
in terms of their suitability to reside in the harsh climatic conditions
in which some centres situated, in one particular case recently aired
on SBS demonstrated. In the case of the young boy with cerebral palsy,
Mohamed who featured in the SBS broadcast, 'Tales from a Suitcase' an
employee of Australian Correctional Management, the head nurse at Woomera
Detention Centre told the child's parents that 'Mohamed can not live here
in Woomera' following his initial assessment. Even after the doctor wrote
to (formerly, DIMIA) from Port Augusta Hospital, the federal government
refused to relocate the family to a more suitable climate for this three-year-old
child. It was not until after the child sustained permanent lung damage
from a second case of 'induced pneumonia' that the family, where relocated
to the Villawood Centre, where the child is now hospitalised in Westmead
Children's Hospital.
Scenario
- Depression (ABC February 2002)
Another example
was the young boy named in the ABC broadcast, Shayan Badraie who had
been in the Villawood Detention Centre had to be transferred to the
Children Hospital to deal with his significant trauma, anxiety and other
physical problems, eg. Lack of nutrition from not eating due to stress
and depression.
The Multicultural
Disability Advocacy Association of NSW is the peak body in NSW for advocacy
services for people from a non-English speaking background (NESB) with
disability and their families and carers. The Co-operative agrees with
MDAA's position that through legislative changes that will ensure that
children with disability are protected in line with the conventions and
obligations Australia is signatory to, we therefore also recommend:
3B) RECOMMENDATIONS:
3.1 The removal of
the exemption of the Migration Act from the Disability Discrimination
Act.
3.2 The incorporation
of international conventions to which Australia is signatory into domestic
law.
3.3 The creation
of a 'Bill of Rights' that is accessible to all people living in Australia.
3.4 That children
with disabilities and their families be further prioritised for immediate
release into the community immediately following the most basic health
and character checks, without further mandatory detention of any kind.
3.5 That Children
with disabilities and their families be given permanent refugee visas
with full access to settlement and disability services since any return
of these asylum seekers or refugees to their place of origin is virtually
impossible.
3.6 The Ethnic Steering/Advisory
Committees in each state and Territory include the Disability Service
Providers from relevant culturally and linguistically diverse communities,
already residing in Australia.
4.
PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL WELL-BEING
Regarding Past traumatic
experiences, the UN convention:
States Parties
shall take all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological
recovery and social reintegration of a child victim of: any form of
neglect, exploitation, or abuse; torture or any other form of cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; or armed conflicts. Such
recovery and reintegration shall take place in an environment, which
fosters the health, self-respect and dignity of the child.
Article
39, Convention on the Rights of the Child
States Parties
shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational
measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence,
injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation,
including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s)
or any other person who has the care of the child.
Article
19(2), Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Regarding the right
to rest and leisure, to play and recreation, the convention:
States Parties
recognise the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play
and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and
to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.
States Parties
shall respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully
in cultural and artistic life and shall encourage the provision of appropriate
and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure
activity.
Article
31, Convention on the Rights of the Child
Regarding Periodic
review of a child's well being, the UN convention says:
States Parties
recognize the right of a child who has been placed by the competent authorities
for the purposes of care, protection or treatment of his or her physical
or mental health, to a periodic review of the treatment provided to the
child and all other circumstances relevant to his or her placement.
Article
25 Convention on the Rights of the Child
Further examination
of the role that immigration detention has played in the lack of well
being and mental and development health we refer the Inquiry to an Australian
based, early childhood educator, Trish Highfield. The article, 'Boarder
Protection Australian Style: A modern form of torture'.
'A six-year-old
child lies across his father's should. His eyes lack purposeful expression
and his skin is pale. This picture is the aftermath of eighteen months
of mandatory immigration detention.
[His] number
is LEE 67. One day[he] stopped talking. As time went by he also stopped
eating and drinking. "At least seven times". He went to hospital,
recovered but became ill again when he returned to the Villawood detention
centre. At the time, there were six hundred and sixty two other children
locked up in immigration detention ..(in Australia)
Child neglect is the logical consequence of the incarceration of children.
The systematic way in which such damage is inflicted means that detained
children are tortured inside the immigration lock-ups
Several UN documents
attest that the world abhors all forms of torture. It therefore is an
indictment of Australia that its treatment of children fits the definition
of Article 1 of the Convention against torture (CAT):
"Torture
means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or
mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as
obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing
him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of
having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person,
or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain
or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent
or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official
capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent
or incidental to lawful sanctions."
Highfield, Trish
'Australian Children's Rights News, December 2001, ACT ' 'Boarder Protection
Australian Style: A modern form of torture'.
4A) THE CO-OPERATIVE'S
POSITION
The Co-operative's
position is aligned with that of those expressed by the Australian Section
of Defence for Children International (reference), which was published
in the Newsletter, 'Australian Children's Rights News'. Key points outlined
in the article which affect the mental health and well being of children,
who are being systematically neglected and whose treatment and abuse at
the consent or acquiescence of the Minister and ACM staff can be summarised
in this way:
- Sleep deprivation
(being woken with flashlights in the face repeatedly over months and
sometimes years)
- Routine random,
armed patrols of children's living, learning and sleeping areas
- Re-activation
of past trauma by the inappropriate and insensitive housing with ethnic
group members from the homeland persecuting ethnicity or religious group
- Passive, but relentless
process of torture by the mechanism of child neglect, by omission of
care rather than active commission of a duty of care to children in
immigration detention
- The mandatory
character of government policy on detention of asylum seekers, regardless
of individual circumstance
- Unhealthy environments
that re-traumatises children and it's link to intent (on behalf of the
government)
- The application
of clinical 'health and illness' indicators alone and within a context
of systemic abuse and neglect and the effect of that regime on children
(cycles or treatment and relapse)
- The role the media
can play in intervention in this situation, where the systematic nature
of the abuse of children in immigration detention can be seen through
video editing etc
- The interplay
between medical treatment and detention centre imperatives (eg. treatment
without ever getting well)
- Children being
aware that batons, riot shields, water canons or gas that causes nosebleed
can be used on them (as well as their parents and carer givers)
- Children witnessing
suicide attempts and acts of self-harm, which transfer into the minds
of the children
- Financial penalties
from DIMIA to ACM for a death in custody, but no incentives for promoting
well-being outcomes or children or adults in immigration detention
- The dismantling
of family structure where tradition patterns of food preparation, eating
and parental role modeling are replaced by the life of the institution
- The locked enclosure,
the relative inaccessibility to advocacy and legal services and the
practice of calling people by numbers, making the camps an idea environment
for torture
- Threat of mandatory
detention of children breaches the Convention of the Rights of the Child
(CROC) and that Australia has given a formal undertaking to 'protect
the child from all forms of physical or mental violence.
ADVISER TESTIMONIAL
All detainees were
referred to as 'detainee.' (a number), this included children and babies.
ACM staff used this regularly in the privacy of detainee's rooms.
There were no televisions
at the period either although it is understood through anecdotal evidence
that televisions were provided later after s-he left.
There were no CD
players or music of any kind. Obviously then, there was no provision of
language other than English music either.
The out door areas
at (name of centre) were not suitable or conducive to outdoor play for
children. The area where children had open access was dry desert type
ground covering. A shade cloth was erected which was approximately five
metres by seven metres. But nothing was ever placed underneath it for
children or toddlers to play with or in) like a sandpit for example).
The clothing provided
to detainee children most often does not fit properly (the former detainee
remembered children walking around with tops and trousers that looked
like adult sizes with the sleeves and legs up). This included any babies
who were anything but what would be considered 'new born'.
Mental Health and
Development - Scenario (observed by adviser)
A four and half year old child (name with held) was continually presented
to health staff in the clinic by his mother who was a single parent. Symptoms
and behaviours she was concerned about included:
- A return to bed
wetting following his arrival at the detention centre
- That he had stopped
playing with either other children or his mother
- Marked loss of
appetite and a general diminishing interest in food of any kind
Naturally his mother
was very worried about him. The medical staff appeared unable to affect
any change to the child's environment that they attributed his behaviours
to. The former detainee over heard conversations with management staff
of ACM about the inappropriate and inadequate conditions in the detention
centre for children and the impact that it was having on children such
as this child.
There were no changes
affected as a result of the efforts of the medical and nursing staff.
The Co-operative
agrees with Highfield (2001), 'that the safety of detained children is
in jeopardy. The institutions of law and medicine have become hijacked
for the purpose of political gains with the result that Australia has
institutionalised inhumanity. Mandatory immigration detention undermines
the well being of children. The detention centre becomes the sole experience,
because they are locked inside. Neglect, as the logical consequence of
mandatory detention, systematically compromises the mental, social, and
development profiles of children and thereby tortures them'
4B) RECOMMENDATIONS:
4.1 Children should
be released from detention immediately, together with their parents.
4.2 That unaccompanied
minors be placed in the care and control of the departments of community
services in each state and territory.
5.
EDUCATION
The UN convention
says:
States Parties agree
that the education of the child shall be directed to:
- The development
of the child's personality, talents and mental and physical abilities
to their fullest potential;
- The development
of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and for the principles
enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations;
- The development
of respect for the child's parents, his or her own cultural identity,
language and values, for the national values of the country in which
the child is living, the country from which he or she may originate,
and for civilisations different from his or her own;
- The preparation
of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of
understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes and friendship among
all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous
origin;
- The development
of respect for the natural environment.
Article
29(1), Convention on the Rights of the Child
Schools in Australia
have recognised the need for parent participation in the education system
in order to raise the learning outcomes for children and young people
at school.
ADVISER TESTIMONIAL
During the said time
(year 2000) there were no teachers provided by Australasian Correctional
Management (ACM) at the (name of centre) at all. There was no educational
program at (name of centre) in any age range (preschool, infants, primary,
high school or vocational). There was no access to the detainee children
or their parents by any state or federal education providers.
Education Accommodation
and Program
During that same period, a few detainees who were overseas trained
teachers from (language) speaking backgrounds were given access to two
small 'caravan like' portable rooms (approximately seven metres by five
metres). These rooms were in the open area, in full sun during the hot
summer. There was no air conditioning in the rooms and conditions were
cramped with around twenty to thirty children in each room.
There were no educational
curriculum documents provided to these teacher/detainees who were paid
approximately fifty dollars per week to provide these 'classes'. There
were no written program or syllabus documents for the teacher/detainees
to refer to. Classes were provided by the teacher/detainees in the mornings
only, for around three hours maximum.
Culture and First
Language maintenance
There were no bilingual books. There were no classes given to any
child in their first language if it was not (language). English language
learning was only 'ad-hoc', as the teachers were not ESL trained.
There was very little
equipment of any kind proved to the children. There were no toys (eg.
dolls, blocks, sporting equipment and children's games such as skipping
ropes or bat and ball kits. The only such equipment ever seen by the detainee
consulted were two small 'soccer style' balls. These two balls were for
the adults and children to share.
There was a sense
of having to 'beg' for everything.
For example, a child
could get a small notebook and a few colour pencils. But each time that
s-he ran out of paper to draw on s-he had to ask the ACM officer for another
notebook.
Most parents kept
their children in their rooms, partly in response to the extreme heat
both outside, common areas and partly to prevent them from possibly seeing
or hearing anything that might effect them badly or distress or get them
'into trouble' with the ACM officers.
Books that were sighted
at (name of centre) were from (name of town) Local Library (they were
stamped). They were mostly old novels etc rather than anything relevant
to the development, settlement or experiences of the detainees or their
children and young people.
There were no children's
books ever seen in (name of centre) Detention Centre.
5A) THE CO-OPERATIVE'S
POSITION
The barriers to education
being perpetrated by the confines of the detention centre environment
and the control that ACM officers have of children, with a marked lack
of respect for the functional role of parents can be characterised thus:
- Lack of first
language and English as a Second Language specialist teachers
- Non-culturally
appropriate education, which is developmentally appropriate (due to
lack of educational assessment of any kind)
- Lack of programs
and multicultural content in the Australian context (DIMIA estimates
that approximately 85% of asylum/refugee claims are proven to be legitimate.
These children will become permanent residents and likely Australian
citizens)
- The ongoing effects
of continued trauma/torture, that will effect the cognitive, behavioural
and developmental progress of the learner (the trauma of detention following
the well documented experiences of what child asylum seekers would most
likely have experienced such as death, torture, malnutrition, injury
etc)
- The destruction
of the role of the family and parents/carer givers in the support system
of the child as a learner
The Co-operative
advocates a model that identifies, addresses and respects each individual
child's:
- Right to education
that reflects a quality and standard consistent with the child asylum
seeker/refugee needs and past experiences
- Right to go to
a school, whatever else is happening (eg. visa claims etc)
- Right to have
teaching staff who are able and encouraged to liaise with the parents
of that child in the detention centre, regarding his or her educational
progress through a legitimate program to which parents have access
- Needs to have
health issues and personal development modules within the educational
program framework
- Need to maintain
his or her cultural identity with a program that acknowledges that ethnicity
within it
- First language
skills and provides opportunities to both maintain his or her first
language with resources and bilingual teaching staff, while at the same
time, providing quality English language teaching syllabus (for which
Australian teachers are particularly highly skilled to do)
- Designated religion,
within the Australian context (with lesson plan and information about
that religion in Australia) and regular opportunities to practice it
freely
- Need to make contact
with and have information about his or her own ethnic communities in
Australia
Given that the detention
centres are largely located in isolated locations in remote communities
whose ethnic mix is limited, within the current paradigm, the physical
and technological limitations will always negate the educational needs
of children in detention.
5B) RECOMMENDATIONS:
5.1 Recruit ethnic
community leaders from each group, professional interpreters to meeting
with state education departments and teacher body representatives, where
detention centres are located and develop integration plan for all children
in detention centres as a matter of urgency.
5.2 All children
in immigration detention are enrolled in the local school directly outside
the detention centre immediately following.
5.3 All pre-school
aged children to have access to some form of child care and pre-school
preferably outside the centre but if this is not practicable to have these
facilities within the centre with proper equipment and qualified staff.
6. CULTURE
AND IDENTITY
The UN Convention
says:
In those States
in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, a child
belonging to such a minority shall not be denied the right, in
community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her
own culture, to profess and practice his or her own religion, or to use
his or her own language.
Article
30, Convention on the Rights of the Child
And further:
States Parties
undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity,
including nationality, name and family relations as recognized by law
without unlawful interference.
Where a child
is illegally deprived of some or all of the elements of his or her identity,
States Parties shall provide appropriate assistance and protection, with
a view to re-establishing speedily his or her identity.
Article
8, Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The UN Convention
says about the Right to Identity:
States Parties
undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity,
including nationality, name and family relations as recognised by law
without unlawful interference.
Article
8(1), Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The UN Convention
says about the Restoring cultural normalcy:
The social and
mental well being of all refugees, but particularly of refugee children,
can be most effectively assured by the quick re-establishment of normal
community life.
UNHCR
Guidelines on Protection and Care (1994), ch 2.
ADVISER TESTIMONIAL
There was a meal
of a type of 'Arabic style' rice dish that was given to all detainees
(regardless of ethnic background) once each week. This was the only concession
to the notion of 'culturally appropriate or valuing' food or food preparation
the observer ever saw.
'Our culture is
our routine of sleeping, bathing, dressing, eating and getting to work.
It is our household tasks and actions we perform on the job, the way we
buy goods and services, write and post a letter or in fact any task we
choose to perform on a regular basis. It is also the way we greet our
friends greet a stranger, our child rearing practices and the way we consider
what is good or bad or that which is right or wrong.
All these and
many other ways of thinking, feeling and acting are natural and right
that we may wonder how else such things could be done. But millions of
other people throughout the world, each one of these acts would seem incomprehensible,
or even unnatural or wrong. These people would perform many, if not all,
of these acts, but would perform these in a different way that, to them
(as our ways are to us) seem logical, natural and right.
Culture is not
only just the way we do things. It is also about our attitudes, thoughts,
expectations, goals and values. It is about rules in society-the norms
that inform us about what is, and what is not, acceptable in our society.
We each learn these norms through individuals in our lives and structures
in society that introduce us to the complex world of ideas, values, behaviours
and actions.'
From
training material adapted from Brown, IC (1963) Understanding other cultures,
New Jersey, Englewood Cliffs, p11)
Australia's Multicultural
and Access and Equity Policies are core values upon which the provision
of services are planned, developed and delivered in Australia. That there
is no provision of refugee workers, from relevant ethnic, cultural and
linguistic backgrounds in immigration detention centres, undermines in
the community the value of those core values.
History has shown
that this assistance to refugees in detention centres assists them in
their settlement plans directly before and upon release. When Australia's
detention centres were administered directly by the federal government,
rather that a private company, namely Australasian Correctional Management,
access to health, emotional and educational services were more open to
scrutiny by independent social and ethnic communities' audits, public
accountability and the media.
6A) THE CO-OPERATIVE'S
POSITION
There is no coordination
across government departments to ensure an emphasis on restoring cultural
normalcy to children being held in immigration detention. Australasian
Correctional Management is a privately owned company whose special field
of expertise are prison management, not refugee and asylum seeker services.
The federally funded
social and children's services in the community sector in Australia along
with each state and territory government education, health and welfare
services are already well placed to provide:
- Co-ordination
of services which are culturally and linguistically appropriate and
relevant
- An independent
overview of government arrangements, including goals and indicators
There are no cultural
programs in detention centres. Local and ethnic communities and community
organisations are not involved in the maintenance of language, religion
and cultural practices in detention centres.
There are also the
particular ethnic communities who are currently being affected outside
the detention centres by the vilification of their ethnicity (by the vilification
of the refugees and asylum seekers eg. 'illegal migrants', 'terrorist's,
' those people who use their own children to get into Australia illegally').
The impact on those communities is yet unmeasured and research is urgently
needed.
The 'family unit'
is completely negated in both the mandatory detention without regard for
individual needs and the separation of parts of families through the assessment
of claims. Evidence of this denial of parents and carer giver's rights
to 'parent' their children can be characterised by these examples:
- Inability to
select and/or prepare their own child's food, including baby food
- The inability
of parents to respond to their child's request for more food or drinks
(other than water) outside the designated 'meal times'
- The ability of
ACM guards to prevent a child from going to 'education' sessions as
a punishment, against the wishes of the parents (adviser testimonial)
- The lack of recognition
in the 'parent as cultural teacher' in the life of the child in detention
and to make their individual culture accepted/available to their children
- The continued
isolation, including cultural isolation of children in detention and
their parents/care givers from their wider community and particularly
their ethnic community
Based on our decades
of experience with Multicultural policy and it's implementation in a pluralist
society in Australia, we know that children and families are best supported
by having services provided either by or in consultation with members
of their own ethnic communities. This facilitates access and equity, edifies
the child's culture and his or her and the families and ethnic community's
right to maintain it and teach it to their children.
This would be common
knowledge to the Minister, and therefore it is difficult to understand
the motives for this denial of adequate care, especially in the case of
babies and children.
The society in Australia
is structured around this practice and our rights and obligations as a
civil society are well regarded both here and internationally. This strategy
is supported also by the federal Access and Equity policy and includes
these groups in order for it to be effective.
- Doctors, Health
professionals
- Educationists
- Social/Welfare
workers
- Community leaders
- Volunteers/others
The Co-operative
endorses the Federal Multicultural and Access and Equity Policies and
is directed in our work by the philosophies of both.
The Co-operative
advises that where detainees are not immediately released, that calls
be made to establishing Ethnic Advisory Committees in each state and territory
to conduct a 'cultural and social audit' of the provision of services
and practices on the ground in this mandatory incarceration detention
centres immediately. Reviewing the 'Detention Centre' Standards document
(DIMIA web site) could do this. These Committees will provide the guidance
and transparency that DIMIA and ACM need. Committee members bring ideas,
expertise and knowledge of particular service types (eg. disability etc,
education). They know about previous attempts that have been made to create
and increase ethnic access to particular services, what were the barriers
and can support both ACM staff and the detainees.
We have been nationally
and internationally recognised for our work within this framework and
feel well placed to make the following recommendation to the Inquiry:
6B) RECOMMENDATIONS:
6.1 Establish several
Ethnic Access Advisory Committees for each state or territory's detention
centres and conduct and immediate 'Cultural and Social audit' by reviewing
the provisions, service standards and ACM's adherence to the Detention
Centre Standards. The Ethnic Access Advisory Committees shall apply the
standards of Australia's Multicultural and Access and Equity Policies
to those standards.
6.2 That children
be provided with the full service of those highly developed, culturally
and linguistically appropriate services that are available from within
the wider Australian public, social and community sectors both while in
assessment and then immediate release from detention on an ongoing basis,
for as long as possible.
7 LEGAL
ISSUES
The UN convention
regarding the rights of children to legal representation says:
A legal representative
or a guardian should be appointed immediately to ensure that the
interests of an applicant for refugee status who is a minor are fully
safeguarded.
UNHCR
Guidelines on Protection and Care, chapter 8
Every child deprived
of his or her liberty shall have the right to prompt access to legal and
other appropriate assistance, as well as the right to challenge the legality
of the deprivation of his or her liberty before a court or other competent,
independent and impartial authority, and to a prompt decision on any such
action.
Article
37 (d) Convention on the Rights of the Child
Protecting children
from NESB in Australia are:
- Care and Protection
Act,
- Disability Discrimination
Act,
- Racial Vilification
Act
These Acts protect
the Australian people and the children in our care as a society. The Co-operative
is aware that the Migration Act 1958 does not incorporate any of our discrimination;
vilification, anti-racism, child protection or social justice acts either
state or federal.
7A) THE CO-OPERATIVE'S
POSITION
Following discussions
with Public Interest Advocacy Centre staff, Multicultural Disability Advocacy
Association, The Refugee Council of Australia and the Australian Section
of Defence for Children International, we make the following observations.
If Australia's migration
program was planned within the context of a population program, and removed
from the political arena, better outcomes for both Australia and the asylum
seekers and their children would be more likely.
Using the Migration
Act (with legislative amendments in October 2001) to further induce the
Australian public to vilify certain ethnic groups 'by default' is seriously
damaging both the public image of asylum seekers and the ethnic communities
to which they will likely become a member. It is abhorrent to the Co-operative
and we condemn it as such, Especially in the year of an election and well
into the campaign itself. Furthermore, it is extremely provocative, dangerous
and destructive, seemingly beyond the Minister's understanding of the
Australian people and has diminished his office.
7B) RECOMMENDATIONS:
7.1 That Australian
human rights, social justice, legal centres, children's and human services,
educational and charitable peak bodies demand that all state and federal
discrimination, civil rights and anti vilification laws be incorporated
into the Migration Act.
7.2 That the internationally
recognised legal right and corresponding status of refugees and asylum
seekers reaching Australia's shores (by any means possible) be reinstated
as legitimate under the convention as a matter of urgency, through an
'Asylum Seekers Act' in the federal parliament.
7.3 Mount a legal
challenge to repeal the seven pieces of legislation of October 2001 which
included the so called 'non-migration zones, the Temporary Protection
Visa holders claim to apply for permanent settlement in Australia.
7.4 That a 'whole
of government approach' be applied to the discontinuation of the use of
terms such as 'illegal migrant' and 'queue jumper' immediately through
the Anti Vilification Act.
8.
DETENTION AND THE ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION
The UN convention
says:
The Australian
Immigration mandatory detention law, governing the detention of children
is contravening the Untied Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
Article 37 (b). Therefore, the mandatory detention of children does not
conform to the international human rights standards on children. In the
view of the UNHCR on a report on the detention of asylum seekers in Europe
in 1995 it said, "The detention of asylum seekers is inherently undesirable".
Furthermore the report said that "freedom from arbitrary detention
is a fundamental human right and the use of detention is contrary to norms
and principles of international law ". (24th November 95, UNCHR)
The limits on
detention of a child should be in accordance with the United Nations Convention
on the Rights of the Child Article 37 (b). The Convention on the rights
of the child sets the international standard which states that detention
of children shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the
shortest appropriate time. Therefore, the Australian law should respect
and uphold the Convention on the Rights of the Child by abolishing the
law on mandatory detention with regard to the children of asylum seekers.
HREOC
Background Papers, Inquiry into Children in Detention in Australia 2002
The legitimate concerns
in detaining children and their families, even in the most positive of
environments, which is clearly not the case in Australia, are that children
continue to be further traumatised by the 'institutionalisation' of their
life. What has now been revealed is that worse, children are being systematically
neglected and virtually tortured by the 'lock up' attitude of the federal
government, implemented by ACM. A grave concern is that refugees, especially
children have already suffered in their own country and must be protected
from further harassment. It is inhumane to add detention to their plight.
For children their continuing detention will further hamper their cognitive,
social and emotional development.
Detention can only
legitimately be used in exceptional circumstances where refugees or asylum
seekers have been identified as acting in a dangerous manner either following
their initial claims in Australia or previously in the country of origin.
The claim that asylum
seekers are 'dishonest' who have travelled on false documents or have
destroyed documents in transit must be exposed to the public of Australia
as a flawed perception. In the context of people who are usually escaping
persecution or perceived persecution or threats of torture or death from
the very authorities who would likely issue their travel and identification
documents. They therefore have a very real concern of being discovered
attempting to leave and therefore preventing them from saving their own
lives and that of their children.
8A) THE CO-OPERATIVE'S
POSITION
The Co-operative
does not support the separation of children from their parents and/or
care givers. The family unit must be strengthened and maintained in order
for the child to learn and grow in ways that are balanced and in keeping
with every childhood theory now practiced and referenced in Australia
today including Department of Community Services.
DOCs and state and
Territory Housing Authorities along with the Ethnic Advisory Committees
for housing with considerations given to the child and his or her family's
language, culture and religious needs. When children and their families
are released into the community, it is the strong and vibrant ethnic communities
themselves who can support the 'new arrivals' through the array of well-established
settlement workers and bilingual workers and the services that sponsor
them.
The Minister for
DIMIA has recently stated that providing settlement services to those
people who have 'flaunted our laws' and 'jumped the queue' (and therefore
displacing more needy people) only services to provide the asylum seekers
and is of no benefit to the Australian community.9 The Co-operative says
that the Minister, with respect, is incorrect in his understanding of
the social service practices that maintain the rights to cultural diversity
and how the community is strengthen by them.
Conversely, the Minister's
and his government's actions in denying settlement services to particular
ethnic groups (the TPV holders are predominantly from a few ethnic/language
groups) even by default, is damaging the:
- Social justice
ethic in Australia, based around the race and religious beliefs of the
current trend in asylum seekers to Australia
- Respect for the
rule of law in Australia
- Respect for government
as a democratic institution
- Belief in Australian
as fair and just society, where those in need will get 'fair go'
The Co-operative
is very concerned about the damage to particular ethnic communities. Whilst
the 'Tampa' and 'Children Overboard' scandals both raged through the media,
it's lack of depth of coverage (due to government imposed restrictions),
something was clearly demonstrated to ethnic commentators and social service
providers. And that is the effect and social consequences of vilifying
of the 'boat people's ethnicity. Ethnic communities concerned, knew the
ethnicity of who were on the boats!
A lack of service
will contribute to the malcontent in the community that the Minister would
do well to arrest by reviewing information on the history of the Multicultural
policies which are available from his own portfolio's web site. The Co-operative
believes that he has lost perspective in using maltreatment and deprivation
of service as a deterrent to asylum seekers. It is divisive and destructive
in the community. The Minister might also look at the negative impact
to his own department's 'Living in Harmony' program and also the negative
impact on the skilled migration program.
8B) RECOMMENDATIONS
8.1 That the 'Alternative
Model' by the Refugee Council of Australia be implemented immediately
as a first step in the restoration of the human rights of the asylum seekers
and a return to ethical and humane treatment of some of the most vulnerable
people.
8.2 That children
and their parents and carers be released into the community for processing
their claims for asylum. This will be with the assistance of the Department
of Community Services and peak community organisations like Barnados,
Centacare, St Vincent's De Paul etc. Supported will also be sought from
the established ethnic and multicultural community services sector and
relevant ethnic groups following the appropriate health and security checks
have been undertaken.
8.3 That the tactic
being implemented by DIMIA, under direction of the Minister, of treating
in inhumane ways, asylum seekers and lawful refugees as a 'tool' to deter
further claimants arriving on the Australian migration zones cease immediately.
This includes the withholding of service both inside detention and following
release under the Temporary Protection Visa as well as practices that
neglect the health and welfare of children and their families claiming
asylum in Australia.
9.
THE LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE FRAMEWORK FOR DEALING WITH CHILD ASYLUM SEEKERS
There does not appear
to be a legal framework that recognises the rights of asylum seeker children
who fall under Australia's jurisdiction (see point 7-legal Issues).
The Co-operative
supports the submission regarding the legal issues and administrative
framework submitted by National Youth and Children's Law Centre in regards
the legality of mandatory detention, for such lengthy periods in detention
centres in Australia. Australia is breaching its obligations in this regard.
9A) CO-OPERATIVE'S
POSITION
Guardianship Of
Children In Detention And After Release For Unaccompanied Minors
The Co-operative
is concerned that the Federal Minister for Immigration, Multicultural,
Indigenous and Multicultural Affairs is the current guardian for children
in detention and even unaccompanied minors after they are released. The
Minister appears to have border protection and the power that the Migration
Act gives his ministry to use amendments to the Act through legislation
to keep claimants out. There is a conflict of interest as the Minister
as the guardian has to enforce the immigration laws which affect the status
and interests of the children and their families.
9B) RECOMMENDATIONS
9.1 That care of
and housing of child asylum seekers be handed directly and forthwith to
the departments of community services in each state and territory.
9.2 That all state
and territories' Children's Protection Acts and their accompanying state
government departments apply in their totality the care and protection
obligations to every child under eighteen in all detention facilities
to which Australia has jurisdiction (off and on shore).
9.3 That each state
Guardianship Board be appointed as the guardian of child asylum seekers
immediately.
FULL LIST
RECOMMENDATIONS
1.1 Mandatory detention
of the children of asylum seekers and their treatment and conditions prevailing
in the detention centres in Australia contravenes Article 3 (1) of the
CRC as the principle of "best interest of the child" is not
considered in decision making, in provision of essential services, resources
for their development and well being.
1.2 The policy of
mandatory detention of asylum seekers and refugees in Australia should
be abolished.
1.3 That asylum seeker
families and/or carers with dependent children be prioritised for assessment
and that all children and their families/carer givers be released into
the community immediately following the most basic health and character
checks, without further mandatory detention of any kind, as a mater of
urgency.
2.1 That children
asylum seekers and their parents and carer givers be afforded the same
level of access to health services, dietary and food that are available
to all other children in Australia -effective immediately.
3.1 The removal of
the exemption of the Migration Act from the Disability Discrimination
Act.
3.2 The incorporation
of international conventions to which Australia is signatory into domestic
law.
3.3 The creation
of a 'Bill of Rights' that is accessible to all people living in Australia.
3.4 That children
with disabilities and their families be further prioritised for immediate
release into the community immediately following the most basic health
and character checks, without further mandatory detention of any kind.
3.5 That Children
with disabilities and their families be given permanent refugee visas
with full access to settlement and disability services since any return
of these asylum seekers or refugees to their place of origin is virtually
impossible.
3.6 The Ethnic Steering/Advisory
Committees in each state and Territory include the Disability Service
Providers from relevant culturally and linguistically diverse communities,
already residing in Australia.
4.1 Children should
be released from detention immediately, together with their parents.
4.2 That unaccompanied
minors be placed in the care and control of the departments of community
services in each state and territory.
5.1 Recruit ethnic
community leaders from each group, professional interpreters to meeting
with state education departments and teacher body representatives, where
detention centres are located and develop integration plan for all children
in detention centres as a matter of urgency.
5.2 All children
in immigration detention are enrolled in the local school directly outside
the detention centre immediately following.
5.3 All pre-school
aged children to have access to some form of child care and pre-school
preferably outside the centre but if this is not practicable to have these
facilities within the centre with proper equipment and qualified staff.
6.1 Establish several
Ethnic Access Advisory Committees for each state or territory's detention
centres and conduct and immediate 'Cultural and Social audit' by reviewing
the provisions, service standards and ACM's adherence to the Detention
Centre Standards. The Ethnic Access Advisory Committees shall apply the
standards of Australia's Multicultural and Access and Equity Policies
to those standards.
6.2 That children
be provided with the full service of those highly developed, culturally
and linguistically appropriate services that are available from within
the wider Australian public, social and community sectors both while in
assessment and then immediate release from detention on an ongoing basis,
for as long as possible.
7.1 That Australian
human rights, social justice, legal centres, children's and human services,
educational and charitable peak bodies demand that all state and federal
discrimination, civil rights and anti vilification laws be incorporated
into the Migration Act.
7.2 That the internationally
recognised legal right and corresponding status of refugees and asylum
seekers reaching Australia's shores (by any means possible) be reinstated
as legitimate under the convention as a matter of urgency, through an
'Asylum Seekers Act' in the federal parliament.
7.3 Mount a legal
challenge to repeal the seven pieces of legislation of October 2001 which
included the so called 'non-migration zones, the Temporary Protection
Visa holders claim to apply for permanent settlement in Australia.
7.4 That a 'whole
of government approach' be applied to the discontinuation of the use of
terms such as 'illegal migrant' and 'queue jumper' immediately through
the Anti Vilification Act.
8.1 That the 'Alternative
Model' by the Refugee Council of Australia be implemented immediately
as a first step in the restoration of the human rights of the asylum seekers
and a return to ethical and humane treatment of some of the most vulnerable
people.
8.2 That children
and their parents and carers be released into the community for processing
their claims for asylum. This will be with the assistance of the Department
of Community Services and peak community organisations like Barnados,
Centacare, St Vincent's De Paul etc. Supported will also be sought from
the established ethnic and multicultural community services sector and
relevant ethnic groups following the appropriate health and security checks
have been undertaken.
8.3 That the tactic
being implemented by DIMIA, under direction of the Minister, of treating
in inhumane ways, asylum seekers and lawful refugees as a 'tool' to deter
further claimants arriving on the Australian migration zones cease immediately.
This includes the withholding of service both inside detention and following
release under the Temporary Protection Visa as well as practices that
neglect the health and welfare of children and their families claiming
asylum in Australia.
9.1 That care of
and housing of child asylum seekers be handed directly and forthwith to
the departments of community services in each state and territory.
9.2 That all state
and territories' Children's Protection Acts and their accompanying state
government departments apply in their totality the care and protection
obligations to every child under eighteen in all detention facilities
to which Australia has jurisdiction (off and on shore).
9.3 That each state
Guardianship Board be appointed as the guardian of child asylum seekers
immediately.
CONCLUSION
'Indifference, to
me, is the epitome of evil. The opposite of love is not hate. It is indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite
of life is not death, it's indifference. Because of indifference, one
dies before one actually dies. To be in the window and watching people
being sent to concentration camps or being attacked in the street and
do nothing, that's being dead.' Elie Weisel, post World War 11
In addition, the
Co-operative supports the use of the document, 'Immigration Detention
Standards, Fundamental Principles: NGO Perspective'10, which provides
humane standards based on monitoring of services and practices for immigration
detention centres that are in keeping with the UN Conventions regarding
human rights and the rights of the children.
REFERENCES
Randa Kattan, Executive
Officer, Australian Arabic Communities Council of NSW Inc Annual General
Meeting reported over 350 physical attacks were reported to the Community
Relations Commission for a Multicultural Society in the four weeks following
11 September 2001.
ABC Foreign Correspondent
broadcast a story regrading the impact that the 'Pacific Solution is having
on the Papua New Guinea government and particularly the current Prime
Minister, where a federal election is scheduled for June 2002
It is well documented
that some (certain) commercial radio broadcasters are a voice for the
right wing, racially based debate referred to.
Margaret Piper,
Executive Director, Refugee Council of Australia, at an interagency meeting,
the Arabic Support Workers Network, Bankstown Library Meeting Room, December
2001
The Co-operative
believes that there is a case for ICAC and the UN to work jointly. This
is evidenced by the continued statements by the DIMIA ministers, that
services are being proved to the detainees that, according to the detainees
themselves and professionals who dare to 'talk' after they have left the
employment of ACM, as just not.
The Ethnic Childcare,
Family and Community Services Co-operative is represented by the Executive
Director, Vivi Germonos-Koutsounadis.
http://www.kidshelp.com.au/research/INFOSHEETS/10DomesticViolence.pdf
Information Sheets on the long term effects of Domestic Violence on Children
Multicultural Disability
Advocacy Association Submission to HREOC into Children in Immigration
Detention
Extract from, 'Time`s
Up' a feature story on insight, SBS Television, reporter: Sarah Ferguson
march 28, 2002
'REPORTER: 17 hours
ago, these three men were behind barbed wire at the Woomera Detention
Centre. They`ve been driven overnight to Dandenong in Victoria. Afghan
volunteer Farooq Mirranay is there to greet them. Mohammed, Sultan and
Hakim are refugees from Afghanistan. Farooq asked them about Woomera.
FAROOQ MIRRANAY, AFGHAN VOLUNTEER (Translation): The people who worked
there...how did they behave?
AFGHAN REFUGEE (Translation): It was worse than Pul-e-Charkhi prison in
Kabul. That had one barbed wire fence, this had two.
REPORTER: In the past, genuine refugees like these would have had a real
chance of settling permanently in Australia. Not anymore. Because they
arrived unlawfully by boat, they`ve been given only temporary visas. These
expire in three years, and the chances of remaining here after that are
not high.
FAROOQ MIRRANAY (Speaking to the three refugees): This is my card with
my mobile number. You take this. Take this, my dear brother. If ever God
forbid, you fall ill in the night, ring me. Or if you have any other problem.
They may need it. As temporary visa holders, they`re not allowed access
to government migrant services. There are now more than 7,000 refugees
in the same position. They get basic benefits, including Medicare. But
it`s supposed to be hard. Migrant resource centres have been instructed
by the Government that if they help any of them, they will lose their
funding. That means no English classes.
PHILIP RUDDOCK, MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION: I say, if what you`re talking
about is English language tuition, that is about, um, delivering a service
which helps somebody in THEIR life. It doesn`t necessarily make our situation
as an Australian community better and more effective.
REPORTER: Now if you create a group of people who can`t fit in, you don`t
help those people fit in, you say "We want you to remain on the outside,"
that can`t help cohesion in society, can it?
PHILIP RUDDOCK: Except
the very way in which you preface your question, surmises that what we
should be sending them another message, which is, "You`ve made this
step, you`ve breached our laws, you`ve taken a place from somebody who
has far greater need from it," and what we`re saying is "We
want to embrace you for it." And what I`m saying is, "No, that
embrace is not there."
REPORTER: They`re been released because they`re genuine refugees. But
the clear message - `Not wanted here` has them wary, apprehensive .
'
http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/alternative2.htm
N.B. The document was produced by the Detention Working Group and has
been formally endorsed by the NSW Asylum Seeker's Interagency. Thus it
is not the work of the Refugee Council of Australia. RCOA is, however,
an active member of this group and contributed to the document's contents.
Last
Updated 9 January 2003.