Search results

The general opinion of station people is that it is a mistake to take these children out of the bush. They say that the aboriginal mothers are fond of their children and in their own way look after them and provide for them and that when they grow up they are more easily absorbed and employed than those who have been taken out of their natural environment and removed to towns.

On my right is Professor Trang Thomas, Professor of Psychology at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and on my left Mrs Robin Sullivan, who is also the Queensland Children's Commissioner. Before the hearing commences I would like to note the following matters. First, the issue of confidentiality and privacy. The Commission believes it is important to respect the privacy of individuals…

Carol's grandmother was removed to Beagle Bay at the age of 10. She and her husband had 10 children. When her husband was transferred to the Derby leprosarium, all ten children were placed in the Beagle Bay dormitories. Carol's mother was 8 years old when she was removed. Carol was born in Broome in the mid-1950s. When she was three, her mother died leaving four children. Although her grandmother…

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) requires Australia to protect children's rights to cultural identity, language and religion. The most effective way of ensuring enjoyment of these rights is to encourage and allow refugee and asylum-seeking children to participate in cultural and religious activities in the community. The Australian community is well equipped to respond to this need…

The Australian Human Rights Commission (the Commission) visited immigration detention facilities in Darwin from 6 to 10 September 2010. The visit was conducted by Commission President and Human Rights Commissioner, Catherine Branson QC, as well as Commission staff and consultants including a consultant psychiatrist.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child states that unaccompanied children - particularly those seeking asylum - need special protection and assistance. Where unaccompanied children have a legal guardian, their best interests must be the guardian's 'basic concern'.

Our life pattern was created by the government policies and are forever with me, as though an invisible anchor around my neck. The moments that should be shared and rejoiced by a family unit, for [my brother] and mum and I are forever lost. The stolen years that are worth more than any treasure are irrecoverable. Confidential submission 338, Victoria.

Since 1992, Australia's migration law has made it mandatory for any person in Australia without a valid visa to be detained until they are issued with a visa or removed from Australia. This law applies equally to adults and children.

1.1 This Report uses findings of coronial inquests as a means of auditing the implementation of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

This report makes disturbing reading. It documents numerous breaches by Australia of both the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. As a nation that is understandably anxious that the rights of our own children should be respected when they come into contact with the authorities of other countries, it is troubling that between late…

I taught a small group of students (approx.12) for 3 and a half weeks at Port Hedland Detention Centre during March 2002. I am a qualified secondary E.S.L. and English teacher and have taught since 1987. I've taught mainstream English up to Year 12 and E.S.L to European, Asian and Middle-Eastern students in Melbourne and Darwin and I've taught on Aboriginal communities and have some understanding…

While feedback in relation to the legal system was actively sought throughout all of the consultations, a number of targeted consultation sessions with individuals and organisations specifically involved or engaged in the legal system were also undertaken. These included:

This submission has been produced by the Queensland Program of Assistance for Survivors of Torture and Trauma (QPASTT) and the Youth Advocacy Centre (YAC). The submission is also endorsed by a number of individuals and organisations working directly or indirectly with asylum seekers and refugees (See list on page 2). Their staff hear similar stories and reports from their clients and have come to…

"There have been times in our history when Australia has been generous and open hearted and times when it has been very mean. In 1938 at the Evian Conference about dealing with Jewish and other refugees from Hitler, Australia took a flint hearted position, saying that we did not want to import Europe's problems, or to increase racial differences, and that refugees should get back in the…

Whilst employed as a registered nurse at the Woomera detention centre, it came within the parameters of my duties to treat all detainees, men, women, and children. I would like to share some anecdotes of some of those patient contacts that occurred between myself and specifically the children (or child related contacts). The dates of my employment at the WIRPC were early August 2000- mid February…

At the age of four, I was taken away from my family and placed in Sister Kate's Home - Western Australia where I was kept as a ward of the state until I was eighteen years old. I was forbidden to see any of my family or know of their whereabouts. Five of us D. children were all taken and placed in different institutions in WA. The Protector of Aborigines and the Child Welfare Department in their …

Commissioners: DR SEV OZDOWSKI, Human Rights Commissioner MRS ROBIN SULLIVAN, Queensland Children's Commissioner PROFESSOR TRANG THOMAS, Professor of Psychology, Melbourne Institute of Technology MS VANESSA LESNIE, Secretary to the Inquiry

In June 2003, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) engaged the Centre for Cultural Research (CCR) at the University of Western Sydney (UWS) to investigate Australian Arabs' and Muslims' experiences of post-September 11 racism, the extent to which these experiences were going unreported and the reasons for this. The CCR team was charged with addressing the following questions: