AUSTRALIA: Child rights are flouted for 'public opinion'

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Summary: Civil society groups say the federal government should pay compensation to children who had been illegally detained under the erroneous assumption that they were adults.

[28 July 2012] - Australian authorities who incarcerated Indonesian children and wrongly accused them of being adult people smugglers were influenced by an ''adverse public discourse'' around people smugglers, according to the nation's human rights chief.

An inquiry has indicted the Federal Police, federal Attorney-General's Department and the commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions office for flouting child rights - and undermining the right to a fair trial.

In 15 cases where Indonesian youth were convicted by courts here of people smuggling charges, it was eventually established there was ''doubt'' they were adults when apprehended. They were eventually released, ''having spent an average of 948 days in detention''.

Another 48 youths who were initially charged with adult criminal offences ''spent an average of 431 days in detention'' - including long stints in adult prisons. Ultimately, the prosecutions were abandoned. 

The Australian Human Rights Commission report, released yesterday and running to 428-pages, reveals how now discredited wrist X-ray techniques were embraced as the best method to distinguish children from adults for prosecution purposes. The official policy at the time - as is now - was to only charge minors in exceptional circumstances.

However, between 2008 and late 2011, in most cases where wrist X-rays suggested that Indonesian boat crew were ''skeletally mature'', authorities immediately treated them as adults.

''We know now that many young Indonesians assessed to be adults on the basis of wrist X-ray analysis were in fact children at the time of their apprehension, or are very likely to have been children at that time,'' the report said. ''Having a mature wrist is quite consistent with a person being under the age of 18 years.''

Persisting with this method, and other errors, led to ''prolonged detention'' of a number of children from impoverished fishing villages

Overall, 180 Indonesian boat crew who arrived in Australian territory between 2008 and 2011 stated they were minors.

Human Rights Commission president Catherine Branson, QC, said the report exposed that ''Australian authorities did not respect the rights of children'' involved. She concluded the most likely explanation was ''the adverse public discourse that we have in Australia around issues of people smuggling and the perceived need to be tough on people smugglers'' influenced judgments of key agencies.

Ms Branson said she hoped the inquiry would lead to ''mature'' reflection on the strengths and weaknesses of the criminal justice system more generally.

"The inquiry has revealed that this system may be insufficiently robust to ensure that the human rights of everyone suspected of a criminal offence are respected and protected," she said.

Meanwhile, the report also raises the prospect that the minors who crewed the boats may have been ''victims of trafficking''.

''Many individuals who have been investigated and prosecuted for people smuggling offences in Australia appear to have been told that they would be transporting cargo, such as rice or fruit, around Indonesian islands or that they would be taking tourists on a tour of the Indonesian archipelago.''

Attorney-General Nicola Roxon said the report dealt with people who were subject to age-determination practices prior to changes made by the federal government in 2011. ''These changes now see minors returned to Indonesia as soon as possible," she said

The Australian Lawyers Alliance said the federal government should pay compensation to children who had been illegally detained.

Further Information:

pdf: http://www.smh.com.au/national/child-rights-are-flouted-for-public-opini...

Country: 
Australia
Attachment Link: 
http://www.smh.com.au/national/child-rights-are-flouted-for-public-opinion-20...
Link : 

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