UN body Preventing Torture Terminates Australian Detentions
A United Nations body committed to preventing torture has terminated its review of Australian places of detention after authorities in some states refused to let them in – joining Rwanda as the only other country where a visit has been terminated.
In a statement, the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) said it was ‘canceling’ the remainder of a 12-day tour that was suspended last year due to “obstacles” in carrying out its mandate.
“Despite the good cooperation the Subcommittee has with the Australian Federal Authorities following our initial mission, there is no alternative but to terminate the visit as the issue of unrestricted access to all places of deprivation of liberty in two states has not yet been resolved,” SPT chairperson Suzanne Jabbour said in the statement.
Last October, the SPT said it had been prevented from visiting several places in the states of New South Wales and Queensland, calling it a “clear breach” of Australia’s obligations under the UN’s OPCAT (Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment) agreement designed to protect detainees’ human rights.
Australia is ‘one of 91 signatories’ to the agreement, which allows inspectors to make “unannounced visits” to all places of detention, including police stations, immigration detention centers and social care institutions. The UN and human rights groups have long criticized Australia’s treatment of detainees, particularly refugees and asylum seekers who are ‘subject to long periods of offshore detention’ if they arrive in the country by boat.
A spokesperson for Australia’s Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the “disappointing decision” to terminate the visit doesn’t reflect the federal government’s “commitment to protecting and promoting human rights.”
In partial findings published in November, the SPT said “it was concerned about the mandatory detention of people who arrive in Australia without a valid visa, including children, and that there was no maximum time for their detention.”
The committee also said it had “serious concern” about the imprisonment of children as young as 10 in places where they were “frequently subjected to verbal abuse, racist remarks and solitary confinement.” It recommended Australia raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to international standards, which is at least 14, according to the UN’s Committee on the Rights of the Child.
CNN /Jide Johnson
