A recent Commonwealth Ombudsman report, rebuking the Department of Immigration for the deportation of a 7-year-old Iranian girl, has highlighted the serious implications of detaining children.

In 2003 the Department of Immigration deported a child to Iran whilst her father was locked in solitary confinement in an Australian detention centre. The father and daughter had spent more than two years in detention before the incident, and neither were consulted or even warned about the removal.

Immigration officials were understandably eager to remove the child from detention, especially after a South Australian Family and Youth Services report which stated “I cannot stress enough the importance of changing the environment of isolation this child is currently subjected.”

However, Amnesty International Australia remains extremely concerned with the way in which the detention of the father and daughter, and the removal of the daughter were handled. The treatment of the two asylum seekers by both immigration officials, detention officers and other detainees clearly resulted in psychological trauma for the father, who attempted suicide, as well as the daughter, who was described as being an “anxious and isolated child”.

This case clearly underscores Amnesty International’s belief that holding children in detention facilities is a recipe for disaster. There should be no circumstances where it is acceptable to hold children in detention facilities, and it has been shown repeatedly that doing so is extremely harmful.

Amnesty International Australia supports the findings of a recently released Commonwealth Ombudsman report which found that:

"There is the possibility that a similar situation may arise where a detainee is the guardian of a child and there are issues surrounding the detainee’s ability to adequately care for the child. The Minister is the lawful guardian of all minors in detention, which has the potential to create a conflict of interest."

Although the Australian Government has taken positive steps to remove most children and their families from detention facilities, this change has not been codified into Australian domestic law. This allows for the possibility of the reestablishment of the discredited children in detention policy.

In fact, children asylum seekers are currently being held on Christmas Island. Keeping these children in alternative detention facilities on Christmas Island still limits their access to health, counseling and child support services, not only because they are in detention but also because of their distance from mainland Australia.

Amnesty International is calling for all children held on Christmas Island to be brought to mainland Australia and placed in accordance with the Australian Government’s new commitment to a more humane refugee policy that keeps children completely out of detention. Until the children in detention policy is fully rescinded, Australia will remain responsible for the increasing trauma of the families and children that it locks up and will be in breach of its international obligations.