BREAKING🚨 RACS win at the UN for refugee children detained on Nauru

An important update from Sarah Dale,

Today, almost 9 years to the day since we filed, we received an outcome in our United Nations Human Rights Complaint, alleging that Australia’s treatment and transfer of children to Nauru was in breach of their human rights. Our allegations were substantiated as this finding affirmed. Australia was responsible, and Australia was in breach.

We knew to our core that what Australia was doing to people seeking asylum – and in particular unaccompanied children – was unconscionable.

It has been a deeply moving and humbling day at RACS to receive this outcome. I’m immensely grateful to have Katie Wrigley back by my side to receive this news. Katie, as the then RACS Principal Solicitor, backed me, and dove head first into doing what we could to see some semblance of justice for these children out of our reach and sight. Our former Director, Tanya Jackson-Vaughan and the late Steven Glass also contributed immeasurably to see this happen. As did Ben Saul, Stephene Tully, Megan Caristo, Erasmus Lovell-Jones, Patrick Deegan and Ahmad Sawan who also have our deepest gratitude for all their time, guidance and support this last decade.

Aarash (a pseudonym), now in his late 20s, shared:

“I was 16 years old and I cannot remember any of my birthdays since 2013. Now that I’m grown, when I see younger ones that age, having fun, playing, going to school, it reminds me of everything I lost. I felt less human, not human at all.”

Aarash is one of 24 children from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar who were intercepted at sea by Australia in 2013 while fleeing persecution in their home countries and enroute to Australia. After being detained on Christmas Island, he was one of the children were transferred to detention facilities on Nauru in 2014 and remained there despite all but one of them being granted refugee status that same year.

RACS filed a complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee in January 2016 and the case has involved almost a decade of gathering evidence, hearings, submissions and correspondence back and forth across time zones. Australia constantly contended that it was not responsible because the abuses occurred on Nauru. International law as reaffirmed in yesterday’s UN decision rejects such an argument.

“The outsourcing of operations does not absolve States of accountability. Offshore detention facilities are not human-rights free zones for the State party, which remains bound by the provisions of the Covenant,” said UN Committee Member Mahjoub El Haiba.

RACS calls on the Australian Government to immediately:

1.    Follow the UN’s recommendation to promptly compensate the young people for violating their human rights.

2.    Provide permanent protection in Australia for the handful of unaccompanied minors and others who are still, after many years, on bridging visas in Australia, many with no pathways to resettlement.

3.    End Offshore Processing, bringing an end to this regime for all who remain impacted by it with safe, immediate and permanent protection.

The UN’s ruling recognises the suffering of the young people who lost their childhoods to Australia’s cruel immigration system.

“Even now I’m suffering from depression caused by being detained all those years,” said Aarash. “It’s affected my life too much. All those years that passed, they’re not coming back.”

For decades many of us have remarked that our treatment of people seeking asylum will be a stain on Australia’s history. This decision from the UN is the critical record and recognition of that. We as a nation, should be ashamed.

There is much more to be done, to seek compensation for Aarash and the other refugees, as the UN has suggested, and to call on the Australian Government to, after all these years, end their limbo and give them a pathway to settlement here.

But for now, I wanted to share this news with you as proof that justice and dignity for and with refugees matters, and it’s happening.

In solidarity,

Sarah Dale
RACS Centre Director & Principal Solicitor