Stop the Detention of Teenage Asylum Seekers!

About 70 unaccompanied, asylum seeking minors will soon arrive at a detention center in the remote Western Australian town of Leonora. This comes amid growing international concern about the Australian government's treatment of asylees.

Locking up asylum seekers reduces them to the status of criminals. This violates the principles of international refugee law, which state that refugees have the right to cross borders and apply for asylum. It is even more unconscionable that Australian immigration authorities would consider treating minors in this way when much better options exist, such as fostering them out to visa-holding families of their ethnic origin.

Please tell the Premier of Western Australia and Australian immigration authorities that this treatment of legitimate asylum applicants is unacceptable. The fact that these are teenagers makes it even more repulsive, but even if they were adults, it would still be wrong.