Alice Springs Town Council has passed a motion in favour of implementing measures to ‘counteract antisocial and criminal behaviour’, including a possible curfew for young people.
Amnesty International has written to all councillors and the Northern Territory Police Minister, Nicole Manison, calling on the curfew to be dropped.
A youth curfew potentially breaches human rights law such as the UN Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency, and goes against recommendations from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the UN World Report on Violence Against Children.
Instead of a punitive, tough-on-crime approach, Alice Springs Town Council and the Northern Territory government should instead be pursuing justice reinvestment and Indigenous-led prevention and diversion programs that address the cause of offending and keeps children out of prison.
