By Professor Louise Newman 8 December 2009, 11:11AM
Cards of support drawn by Australian children sent to Christmas Island
The detention of children, young people and unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in Australia has been one of the most controversial aspects of Australia’s response to asylum seekers.
The Department of Immigration has stated that detention of children should only be used as a “matter of last resort”; however, it is clear that the ongoing detention of children on Christmas Island is at odds with this. It is also at odds with Australia’s obligations under international law.
The small population of Christmas Island and its limited facilities make community housing options for children, adolescents and families diffi cult to implement. Sending children seeking asylum to school is an improvement, but requires ongoing resourcing. The accommodation for family groups with young children awaiting processing remains substandard and without appropriate play and activity areas for children. And as processing times continue to increase, the mental health concerns for all detainees are likely to increase.
A fundamental issue facing the government, and child and mental health workers, is preventing a recurrence of some of the problems we witnessed in the now defunct Baxter and Woomera detention centres.
Children represent a significant proportion of those seeking asylum worldwide. At the end of 2005, of the 19 million persons of concern to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 12 per cent were estimated to be less than five years of age, and 32 per cent were children aged six to 17 years.
Exposed to distress
Australia was the fi rst developed nation to introduce a policy of mandatory detention of all unauthorised arrivals coming by boat or without a valid entry visa. Between July 1999 and June 2003, 2,184 children arrived by boat and were detained for an average period of 20 months by December 2003.
Detention facilities such as the Baxter and Woomera detention centres were in remote locations with minimal access to health and mental health services. They also gave little consideration to the specific needs of infants, children or adolescents.
The lack of basic facilities for play and education contributed to developmental problems. Children were also exposed to adult distress, protest and even suicidal behaviour. Many children experienced family disruption and separation, and many were already vulnerable to trauma and loss because of their pre-migration experiences.
Young children are essentially dependent on parents and carers for support in managing and recovery from trauma. Yet detained parents in Baxter and Woomera were frequently depressed and emotionally less able to respond to the needs of their children. Concerns were raised about unaccompanied minors and their needs for adult support. Children showed clear signs of emotional distress and attachment disorders, and self-harm and depression were also seen in children and adolescents.
One study of 20 children in a remote facility found that all the children were experiencing at least one mental disorder. About half the children admitted to thinking about suicide and one quarter had engaged in self-harming behaviour. Another study of detained children found that all the children less than five years old had cognitive developmental delay. All children seven to 17 years old suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder and depression.
As with adults, the severity of mental health problems was related to the time spent in detention. This clearly suggests that prolonged detention and the exposure of children to trauma in detention, combined with the impairment of parental support, produce significant risks for child mental health.
Onshore Imperative
The management and support of vulnerable groups including children, torture and trauma survivors, and those with clear mental disorders on Christmas Island is logistically difficult and, if anything, could increase risk. With no adult psychiatric services or child and adolescent mental health services, responding to high risk situations is delayed and difficult.
On the mainland, services for onshore asylum seekers (asylum seekers who arrive by plane) have improved and could be used to respond to the current vulnerable groups on Christmas Island.
The rights of child asylum seekers are protected by a range of international conventions including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Geneva Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights. Yet mental health and child welfare groups are once again confronted with a series of concerns about the welfare of children and the impact of mandatory offshore processing.
It seems that the government does not see this issue on ethical or clinical grounds, but more in terms of the symbolic and political value of a regime of mandatory detention. I feel a strange sense of déjà vu as we once again witness harm to children and the argument that this is acceptable in the name of border protection.
Take action
Christmas Island - no place to detain children - call on the Australian Government to move all children, especially unaccompanied minors, off Christmas Island and onto the Australian mainland.
Professor Louise Newman is Director of the Monash University Centre for Developmental Psychiatry and Psychology. She has worked extensively with adults and children in remote detention, and has recently returned from a visit to
asylum seekers on Christmas Island.
Professor Louise Newman explains how detaining children on Christmas Island is likely to affect their mental health.
These features are taken from our Human Rights Defender magazine - subscribe free now
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Cards of support drawn by Australian children sent to Christmas Island
