Download brief biographies of ChilOut spokespeople
ChilOut Media Releases 2006
Australia must not slam the door shut on children, 1 June 2006
Download: PR4-2006.doc PR4-2006.pdf
The Government is trying to change refugee policy to force all asylum seekers arriving by boat out of Australian territory and into detention centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea. ChilOut is opposed to this outrageous proposal as it would mean children back in detention again, with no Ministerial discretion to house families in community detention in Australian cities, as is the case today. [...] "When a child asks for our protection, should we slam the door and send her away? If Parliament lets the Prime Minister get away with this, Australia will be breaking international law, which requires that we allow anyone to seek asylum here who asks. Australia can't pick and choose those we allow to ask for our help," Ms Hiles said.
9 year old Afghan boy and parents held incommunicado in Brisbane, 1 June 2006
Download: PR3-2006.doc PR3-2006.pdf
ChilOut is absolutely outraged that an extremely sick nine year old boy from Afghanistan and his parents have been held incommunicado in Brisbane since 24 May. The boy was in a Brisbane children's hospital until last Monday when he was discharged pending surgery in two weeks' time. ChilOut believes that he and his parents are now being held under guard in a Brisbane motel. [...] ChilOut spokesperson Dianne Hiles said today, "this extremely vulnerable family have not had access to legal advice, which means they are in incommunicado, or in 'separation' detention. They have been denied access to visitors from either the local Afghan community, Amnesty International or the Red Cross. The only contact the family has with the outside world is guards who work for GSL (the private prison company contracted to run detention centres). Those guards do not speak any of the languages of Afghanistan and are explicitly instructed not to help the family access a migration agent or lawyer.
ChilOut says NO to children back in detention, 10 May 2006
Download: PR2-2006.doc PR2-2006.pdf
ChilOut spokesperson Dianne Hiles said, "after the Stolen Generation, it entered the Australian psyche that you don't separate children from their parents. It damages them. Likewise everybody now knows that locking up innocent children indefinitely also damages them. Every childhood is precious. Why can't our Prime Minister get this? How can we go back to having a law that says we have to lock up children? "
Shayan Badraie court settlement, 14 March 2006
Download: PR1-2006.doc PR1-2006.pdf
ChilOut is pleased that the Department of Immigration has finally seen sense in relation to the case of a little Iranian boy who was severely traumatised by his detention at Woomera and Villawood detention centres in 2000-2001. However, nothing can un-traumatise his vital early childhood years. [...]
Last week the family was finally granted permanent protection, ending six years of uncertainty about their safety in Australia. During this time, Shayan has lived with the daily terror that he might, again, be returned to detention.
ChilOut reiterates its long-standing call to the Prime Minister to amend the Migration Act so that is in conformity with international law, specifically the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. We also call for the abolition of TPVs as ongoing uncertainty continues to traumatise recognised refugees.
ChilOut Media Releases 2005
Reforms a welcome step but Australia is still breaching the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 17 June 2005
Download: PR5-2005.doc PR5-2005.pdf
ChilOut welcomes the Government's announcement that it will transfer all families - not just families seeking asylum - from detention centres to community detention. Fathers' inclusion in the definition of "family" is welcome, if four years late.
However, ChilOut urges the Prime Minister to abandon community detention and embrace family bridging visas. ChilOut spokesperson Dianne Hiles said, "detaining children who have not been convicted of a criminal offence is contrary to international law. And living as a detainee family outside the razor wire will not remove the absolute uncertainty and fear of the future."
[... see release for key points]
Ms Hiles said, "We congratulate the Liberal backbenchers on convincing the Prime Minister to take a humane decision today.
"ChilOut now calls on the Prime Minister to confirm that the new policy applies to the Afghani children in the Nauru detention centre, who have been detained the longest of all 63 children in immigration detention.
"ChilOut urges the Government to abandon the unworkable practice of community detention and replace it with whole-of-family bridging visas, with study, work and Medicare rights."
International complaint launched against Global Solutions Ltd over Australian Immigration Detention Centres
Today, five human rights non-government organisations (NGOs) launched a complaint in the United Kingdom and Australia against Global Solutions Ltd. (GSL) for complicity in serious human rights violations in Australian immigration detention centres. "GSL advertises that its policies 'are guided by respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms as laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights'. Yet Australia's detention regime for asylum seekers has been found to be in clear breach of international human rights," say the NGOs.
The complaint - by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID), the Human Rights Council of Australia (HRCA), Children Out of Detention (ChilOut) and the Brotherhood of St Laurence - is based on the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Read the submission...
Children As Human Shields Protest, 9 June 2005
Download: PR3-2005.doc
ChilOut will stage an awareness-raising event tomorrow lunchtime in Martin Place, to highlight the plight of 68 children in immigration detention. Supporters will don human shields with the faces of current child detainees. [...] The Immigration Minister announced today that she would build a new detention centre - for families but excluding fathers - in Sydney's Villawood. "The last thing we need is another detention centre," Ms Hiles said. "Senator Vanstone should be closing them down, not building new ones."
Message to Parliamentarians: Get all children out of detention now! Vote for Petro's Bills!
31 May 2005
Download: PR2-2005.doc PR2-2005.pdfChilOut welcomes the Government's release of 3 year old Naomi Leong and the Prime Minister's move to keep newborn Baby Michael Tran outside the razor wire.
However, there remain 70 children in immigration detention. There are toddlers and babies in Port Augusta, Christmas Island, Nauru and Villawood detention centres. [...]
ChilOut spokesperson, Dianne Hiles, appealed today to Minister Vanstone to release all 70 children immediately, together with their parents. "It is irrelevant whether the families have arrived by boat or aeroplane. Children must not be detained full stop - that is international law, and Australia has agreed to abide by it. They must never be discriminated against on the grounds of their parents' immigration status. All children are entitled to the same treatment." [...]
Ms Hiles said, "Those who share ChilOut's abhorrence of this sickening policy carried out in our name can call upon their parliamentarians to vote for Petro Georgiou's Private Member's Bills to end it."
Download pictures of children (PDF > 1MB).
What is a Private Members bill? from A Just Australia.
Why no bridging visas for babies and children? Put children first, Minister!, 24 March 2005
Download: PR1-2005.doc
ChilOut welcomes the Australian government's announcement to create a new class of Bridging Visa for some immigration detainees whose appeals have been exhausted. However, they won't benefit the 81 children currently held in immigration detention. Their appeals have not been exhausted. Nauru detainees - including 6 children - have been in detention more than three years. There are toddlers and babies in Port Augusta, Christmas Island and Villawood who have been in detention their entire life - including two 3-year-old girls. ChilOut spokesperson, Dianne Hiles, appealed today to Minister Vanstone to prioritise children. "There are 3 unaccompanied children in high security detention centres - why are they not in foster care? And will the further 78 children in detention with parents be granted bridging visas to live in the community while their visas are finalised? Why doesn't the Government listen to its own Human Rights Commissioner?" she said.
ChilOut Media Releases 2004
21/2004 - ChilOut deplores treatment of Bakhtiyari family, 18 December 2004
Download: PR21-2004.doc
ChilOut is outraged by the Australian government's treatment of an Afghan family of seven who have been seeking asylum for the past four years. At 7 o'clock this morning, the mother, five children and baby were forcibly transferred to Port Augusta's immigration detention centre. They fear that they will be deported to Pakistan tonight.
Grave fears are held for the family's safety. ChilOut and other human rights agencies are alerting international bodies such as the Red Cross, UN High Commissioner for Refugees and UNICEF that Australia may dump an extremely vulnerable refugee family in Pakistan.
20/2004 - More children found to be refugees after years in detention, 2 December 2004
Download: PR20-2004.doc
ChilOut welcomes today's announcement that Australia has granted refugee status to seven Afghan children in Australia and 10 Iraqi children in Nauru. However, it is a great shame that it took the Government so long to process these refugees.
19/2004 - STAND UP FOR REFUGEES RALLY, 16 November 2004
Download: PR19-2004.doc
Download: Convergence Media Kit
A broad cross-section of Australian society will rally at Parliament House at lunchtime today to maintain public awareness of refugee and detention issues. Thousands of refugee supporters will ask politicians to use their commonsense and compassion in the next parliamentary term. The crowd at the "Stand Up for Refugees" will represent the thousands of Australians who care about this issue and are swelling in numbers. They simply demand humane and dignified treatment of asylum seekers and respect for their human rights. The return of the Coalition Government does not give it a mandate for human rights abuses.
18/2004 - MORE CHILDREN IN DETENTION SINCE ELECTION, 2 November 2004
Download: PR18-2004.doc
ChilOut is outraged to learn that the number of children in detention has increased since the federal election. Enough is enough - ChilOut calls on the Minister for Immigration to amend the Bridging Visa regulations so that all children in detention can immediately be released with their families.
17/2004 - HIGH COURT DECISION ON DETENTION OF CHILDREN
Download: PR17-2004.doc
"Locking up children is obscene," ChilOut spokesperson Dianne Hiles said. "The new government must immediately amend the Migration Act to render the detention of children and their parents illegal."
16/2004 - COALITION STILL LYING ABOUT KIDS IN DETENTION, 6 October 2004
Download: PR16-2004.doc
Coalition MPs in marginal seats are lying about the number of children in detention. On Radio National last Sunday, Phillip Barresi, Member for Deakin, stated that there was only one child left in detention. The following day on 4 Corners, Greg Hunt, Member for Flinders, stated that "is now only one child in mainland detention. This is down from 156, I believe in 1996."
FACT: there are currently 86 children held in immigration detention.
FACT: there were 842 children in detention in September 2001.
15/2004 - 81 KIDS ARE STILL LOCKED UP - WHO CARES?, 9 September 2004
Download: PR15-2004.doc
It is now 3 months past the HREOC deadline and there are still 81 children locked in secure detention centres in Australia and Nauru. ChilOut supporters, dressed in black, will be showing that THEY CARE in Pitt St Mall tomorrow lunchtime.
14/2004 - The Howard Government lies again: numbers of children in detention, 24 August 2004
Download: PR14-2004.doc
ABC news online reports today that Prime Minister says there are only two children in immigration detention centres. Both he and the Treasurer were reported as saying that they did not like to see children in custody. The truth is that today there are 86 children held in secure detention centres in Australia and Nauru - 70 in Australia and 16 in Nauru.
13/2004 - Free ALL the kids, Minister, 6 July 2004
Download: PR13-2004.doc
Yesterday the Minister for Immigration Amanda Vanstone declared that there was only one child left in immigration detention. The Minister's figure does not include children detained in Nauru, Christmas Island, Port Augusta, Maribyrnong or Villawood detention centres. It does not include children who arrived by plane. It does not include children who have not sought political asylum.
12/2004 - FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
Download: PR12-2004.doc
On Thursday, 10 June 2004, the sound of bells will be heard ringing all around Australia. They will ring in protest against the continued imprisonment of children in immigration detention. [...] The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) report A last resort? has recommended that all children in detention be released by 10 June. The passing of this deadline without the release of the children will launch protests around the nation. [...]
ChilOut is calling for the release of all children and families from detention, and the repeal of legislation that allows the detention of children and their families.
View the HREOC report media pack
Visit our 10 June event page
11/2004 - CHILDREN SUFFER UNTOLD ABUSE IN IMMIGRATION MINISTERS’ CARE, 13 May 2004.
Download: PR11-2004.doc or HTML
ChilOut responds to HREOC's report of its National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention. Visit our report page...
10/2004 - Children still pawns in Government’s legal game: ChilOut’s response to High Court decision of 29 April 2004
Download MS Word Doc: PR10-2004.doc
“Why are we even fighting this issue in the courts?” asked Dianne Hiles, spokeswoman for ChilOut. “No child should be kept in detention, that’s not a legal issue, that’s plain common sense and decency. The Government has thrown a huge amount of money behind this case, pursuing it to the highest court in Australia, and for what? To keep these children behind bars.”
8/2004 - Thursday, 11 March 2004
Download MS Word Doc: PR8-2004.doc
Eight teenage Ambassadors for ChilOut will visit Parliament House today, Thursday 11 March, to ask politicians to release all children from immigration detention. They will have breakfast with Senator Amanda Vanstone, and then meet Larry Anthony MP, Stephen Smith MP and Senator Jacinta Collins. The Ambassadors will present signatures from over 5,000 Australian children – calling for a permanent end to the detention of children and their families – to Senator Andrew Bartlett and Tanya Plibersek MP, who will table the petition in Parliament.
7/2004 - 10 March 2004
Download MS Word Doc: PR7-2004.doc
Eighteen-year-old Zahra, a refugee from Afghanistan, says she is “elated and thrilled by the news that I was picked to go to Canberra because I never even thought about being this fortunate to be able to talk to those politicians, being valued this much by the Australian people”. When Zahra arrived in Australia she knew little English but with the help of teachers at Holroyd High School, she soon excelled.
6/2004 - 10 March 2004
Download MS Word Doc: PR6-2004.doc
Joan, 17, who has just started university, says, “I feel excited and anxious and so privileged to be part of this opportunity.” Joan, who hails from Ulverstone, northwest Tasmania, is part of the social justice network in her community and the online advocacy group, ‘Nauruwire’.
5/2004 - 10 March 2004
Download MS Word Doc: PR5-2004.doc
When 16-year-old Krystal from Wagga Wagga found out she was picked as one of the Ambassadors, she says, “I picked up my stuff and started run (I almost fell down some stairs) to tell my teacher.”
Krystal has experienced a lot in her young life, including close family members’ deaths and serious illness, but she has come through it all wanting to help people, especially children in detention.
4/2004 - 10 March 2004
Download MS Word Doc: PR4-2004.doc
Hannah, 16, from rural Victoria, is one of the Ambassadors and is very excited. “I feel like I am finally getting to do something that I've waited for ages to do, to talk directly to the people who are responsible for all I've witnessed in these camps. It’s still sinking in really that I will be going to Canberra,” she says.
3/2004 - 10 March 2004
Download MS Word Doc: PR3-2004.doc
Fourteen-year-old Fabienne from North Sydney Girls’ High is one of the young people picked to go to Canberra and is “very excited to have this wonderful opportunity, and the chance to express my views”. Fabienne has pen pals detained in Nauru and Baxter, who have told her what life is like for a child in detention. She is also a member of Amnesty International.
2/2004 - 10 March 2004
Download MS Word Doc: PR2-2004.doc
“The friends of mine in detention are so lovely,” said 15-year-old Port Augusta ChilOut Ambassador Bonne, “one of the best things for me was meeting the students from Baxter detention centre when they started school. It was great getting to know them and gain wonderful friendships. They have taught me so much that I would not have known through school or at home. Does that not mean they can help Australia learn and grow?”
1/2004 - Australian children say, "Release kids from detention, Minister!"
Download MS Word Doc: ChilOut8March2004.doc
Download PDF: ChilOut8March2004.pdf
Finally, children are expressing their views directly to the Australian Government regarding its policy of detaining children who have arrived in Australia without a valid visa. Contrary to international law, asylum seeker children in Australia are deprived of their liberty, NOT as a last resort and NOT for the shortest appropriate period of time. Eight young people from around Australia are meeting government Ministers - for Immigration and Children - to say what they think about that.
Media releases from 2003
4 Dec 2003 The Australian government is excising fathers as well as islands
‘The Australian government is still excising islands and it is still excising fathers. The government is denying children the right to a family life. The splitting of families is imposed upon them by our government,’ Ms Hiles said.
Download MS Word Doc: CHILOUTExcisingFathersPressRelease4DEC2003.doc
Download PDF: CHILOUTExcisingFathersPressRelease4DEC2003.pdf
4 Aug 2003 ChilOut Plans Fun Run Protest to Celebrate the Freedom to Run (For Some!)
27 May 2003 The Heart of a Nation's Existence
ChilOut (Children Out of Detention) has today released its report, The Heart of a Nation's Existence, which outlines publicly available, overwhelming and damning evidence that immigration detention centres damage children and that the previous government contractor ACM (Australasian Correctional Management) which managed the mainland centres until recently, did not meet the minimum standards of its contract.
Download: ChilOut_report_to_DIMIA.doc
Download: PressRelease2003-05-27.doc
21 May 2003 GOVERNMENT BLATANTLY IGNORES CHILD ABUSE
20 May 2003 ChilOut responds to 4 Corners’ Woomera Detention Centre Expose
3 May 2003 More asylum seeker Children in Detention
16 Apr 2003 The Past comes Back to Haunt us