Human rights report lashes Australia’s ‘diabolical’ asylum seeker treatment and ‘appalling’ youth crime laws
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Latest world report by Human Rights Watch describes Australia as a ‘vibrant democracy … marred by some key human rights concerns’. Australia’s “diabolical” treatment of asylum seekers and youth crime has worsened, a global human rights advocacy body has warned, urging voters to push back on leaders politicising the issue for gain.
Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) latest world report has lashed Australia for going backwards on children in the criminal justice system in 2024, referencing the Northern Territory’s decision to reintroduce spit hoods for youth detainees and the continued use of watch houses to detain children in Queensland.
Last year, a Guardian Australia investigation revealed confronting footage of children in Queensland watch houses, locked in “freezing” isolation cells, becoming panicked and struggling to breathe. In December, the new Queensland government passed “adult crime, adult time” laws, dramatically increasing maximum sentences for child offenders. The government concedes the laws are contrary to international and state human rights law, are discriminatory against young people and will “have a greater impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children”.
The state’s premier, David Crisafulli, this week vowed to make “many more” changes to strengthen the state’s hardline youth justice laws. HRW, a global body which provides country-level reports for more than 100 countries, described Australia as a “vibrant democracy … marred by some key human rights concerns”.
