To listen to a series of sad-eyed social scientists list the cruel and degrading treatment of children held in detention centres is a harrowing way to spend two hours in Geneva. To know that Australia still has 528 children in detention centres, simply because they are seeking refuge there, adds immensely to the pain experienced. The proportion of these children who suffer mental illness can be close to 100%.
And this from a government with Child Protection policies in place! The good news is that a report has been launched, called Captured Childhood, that puts forward a new model for helping children through this ghastly process. It is firmly based on the fact that these children have rights that no amount of detention can remove.
Even better news, members of our Edmund Rice Network, in places as far apart as Ireland, America and Australia, are helping children held unjustly in detention. They are pushing their governments, through the UPR process (Universal Periodic Review) and the Committee on the Rights of the Child, to protect the rights of children in detention. A new NGO network, the International Detention Coalition, as well as the Edmund Rice Justice Centre in Sydney, can help you act on behalf of these children.
Moy Hitchen cfc