MEDIA STATEMENT

Hon Dr Carmen Lawrence MP

Federal Member for Fremantle

Wednesday 9^th June, 2004

^{GOVERNMENT IGNORES HREOC REPORT}

^{It is four weeks since "The Last Resort" the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Report on Children in Detention was tabled in Federal Parliament.}

^{The report examined whether Australia�s detention laws and practices are consistent with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strongly recommended that children should only ever be kept in detention as a measure of "last resort"}

^{The report, written by Human Rights Commissioner, Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM, is a powerful condemnation of Australia�s treatment of children in detention. The first and crucial recommendation was that children should be released from detention �no later than four weeks� after the tabling of the report. That means, tomorrow, June 10th, 2004.}

^{"It is shameful that the Government has taken no notice of this report. They are ignoring the recommendations and pretending that the children are not suffering or being harmed. They are also contravening the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Australia is a signatory," Dr Lawrence said.}

^{"On May 26th 2004 the Senate Estimates Committee heard that there were 162 children in detention, many of them on Nauru. These children have been taken to remote facilities and are being held in indefinite, mandatory detention. There is no indication of when they will be released."}

^{The HREOC report estimated that the average length of detention for children is one year and eight months and the longest time any one child has been detained is five years and five months.}

^{Dr Lawrence said that one of the key findings of the report was that keeping children in detention for such long periods of time dramatically increases the risk of serious mental harm.}

^{"The Howard government has ignored all recommendations from mental health professionals and their treatment of children is inhumane and cruel."}

^{Other findings in the report were that children have been stripped of their right to be protected from physical or mental violence; they do not have the right to enjoy the highest standard of physical and mental health or equal opportunity in education. Children with disabilities are also denied the chance to lead full and decent lives in appropriate conditions.}

^{"The Howard Government has dismissed the report and dismissed their responsibility to children in detention. The time has come to act; June 10, 2004 is the deadline to remove the children from detention and set them free to begin their lives again."}

^{Contact: Jill Walker (08) 9335 8555}