#AUSTRALIA MARTIAL LAW AUGUST 2021 WINDOWS#

Munn said there needed to be alternative solutions that would address children’s behaviour without subjecting them to a process that could create more problems. “I worry for these kids, what they will be exposed to, how they will be treated and the harm and trauma they will have to work through as a result of this government’s blatant disregard for their rights.” What does that say about the human rights our government values?” Munn told Al Jazeera. “It’s incredibly worrying that the Queensland government for the second time this year has suspended human rights laws to punish children, the majority of whom are First Nations kids. Maggie Munn, a Gunggari person and National Director of First Nations justice advocacy group Change the Record, told Al Jazeera the move to hold children as young as 10 in adult watch houses was “fundamentally cruel and wrong”. The rate of incarceration for Indigenous children in Queensland is 33 times the rate of non-Indigenous children. ‘Cops and cages’ĭespite Indigenous people making up only 4.6 percent of Queensland’s population, Indigenous children make up nearly 63 percent of those in detention. So these are children who have not been convicted of an offence,” he told Al Jazeera. “Queensland has extremely high rates of children in detention being held on remand. He also pointed out that 90 percent of imprisoned children and young people were awaiting trial. At the point of eight, nine or 10 days in the watch house, I have heard numerous reports of children breaking down at that time.” After two to three days in a watch house, a child’s mental health will start to deteriorate. And there’s been reported cases of a child who was held for 32 days in a watch house whose hair was falling out. “Children do not have access to fresh air or sunlight. There’ll be a toilet that is visible to pretty much anyone,” he said. However, McDougall said he has “real concerns about irreversible harm being caused to children” detained in police watch houses, which he described as a “concrete box”.

#AUSTRALIA MARTIAL LAW AUGUST 2021 WINDOWS#

Attached to police stations and courts, a watch house contains small, concrete cells with no windows and is normally used only as a “last resort” for adults awaiting court appearances or required to be locked up by police overnight. The push to hold children in police watch houses is viewed by the Queensland government as a means to house these growing numbers. The Queensland Human Rights Act – introduced in 2019 – protects children from being detained in adult prison so it had to be suspended for the government to be able to pass its legislation.Įarlier this year, Australia’s Productivity Commission reported that Queensland had the highest number of children in detention of any Australian state.īetween 2021-2022, the so-called “Sunshine State” recorded a daily average of 287 people in youth detention, compared with 190 in Australia’s most populous state New South Wales, the second highest.Īnd despite a cost of more than 1,800 Australian dollars ($1,158) to hold each child for a day, more than half the jailed Queensland children are resentenced for new offences within 12 months of their release.Īnother report released by the Justice Reform Initiative in November 2022 showed that Queensland’s youth detention numbers had increased by more than 27 percent in seven years. But they’re not constitutionally entrenched so they can be overridden by the parliament,” he told Al Jazeera. Some of our states and territories have human rights protections in legislation. “We don’t have a National Human Rights Act. The moves have shocked Queensland Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougall, who described human rights protections in Australia as “very fragile”, with no laws that apply nationwide.

The amended bail laws, introduced earlier this year, also required the Human Rights Act to be suspended. Keep reading list of 4 items list 1 of 4 Australia to toughen laws on ex-military staff who train foreign armies list 2 of 4 Polls suggest Australia Indigenous Voice referendum will fail list 3 of 4 Australia says Qatar’s strip-searches of women factor in blocking flights list 4 of 4 ‘Yes’ optimistic as Australia sets date for Indigenous ‘Voice’ referendum end of list

Australia martial law august 2021