National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention
Children's Rights
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This page was first created in December, 2012
National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention
The Australian Human Rights Commission’s (then known as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission) National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention was announced on 28 November 2001. The Inquiry was conducted throughout 2002. It received over 340 submissions and visited all immigration detention centres in Australia.
Public hearings were conducted in VIC, WA, SA, NSW and QLD. The Inquiry also conducted confidential focus groups with former detainee children and young people in Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane.
Archive
A last resort? - Report of the National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention was tabled in Parliament on 13 May 2004.
The Inquiry found that children in Australian immigration detention centres had suffered numerous and repeated breaches of their human rights.
In particular, the Inquiry found that Australia’s immigration detention policy failed to protect the mental health of children, failed to provide adequate health care and education and failed to protect unaccompanied children and those with disabilities.
Click on the links below to access:
- A last resort? - The Report of the National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention. PDF (6.59MB)
- Summary Guide to the Report
- Education Resources for use in Australian Classrooms
- Key submissions received by the Inquiry
- Public hearing dates and transcripts from the Inquiry
- Literature review on the psychological difficulties facing child refugees and asylum seekers
- Artwork - Children in Detention