"I came to have a better future, not sit in a prison...What will happen to us? What are we guilty of? What have we done to be imprisoned? I do not have a good life. All the immigrants in the Australian camps do not have good lives."
— Anonymous, from the Nauru Detention Centre to the Australian Human Rights Commission
Since 1992, Australian immigration policy has mandated that everyone who enters the country without a valid visa be detained. Because of this law, Australia currently holds about 800 children in mandatory closed immigration detention for indefinite periods, including 186 children on Nauru.
According to the recent Human Rights Commission report on children in detention, children in Australian detention centres have experienced violence, sexual assault, self-harm and significant mental health problems. No child deserves to be locked up for seeking refuge in Australia, especially considering the serious implications on their mental and physical health.
Australia is the only country that mandates the closed and indefinite detention of immigrant asylum-seeking children. The mandatory detention law directly violates Australia's international obligations to act in the best interests of children.
Please take action for the detained children in Australia and on Nauru. Urge Australia's Minister for Immigration and Border Protection to immediately release all children from detention to secure their human rights guaranteed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
