Immigration Detention, Refugee and Asylum Seeker program Commissioner Santow leads the Commission’s work on human rights issues affecting asylum seekers, refugees, and people in immigration detention. This involves monitoring of immigration detention facilities, conducting research and consultation projects on specific issues of concern, and engagement with Parliament regarding changes to Australia’s migration laws. Covid-19 and risks in immigration detention In mid-2020, the Commission commenced a targeted review of measures taken by the Government in response to the risks posed by COVID-19 for people in immigration detention facilities. This involved analysis of information and documents provided by the Department of Home Affairs (Home Affairs) as well as other relevant information. The Commission assessed this material against human rights standards, expert health advice, and relevant guidelines. In June 2021, the Commission published the report, Management of COVID-19 Risks in Immigration Detention, which outlines the findings of this targeted review, and includes 20 recommendations for change. The Commission recommended that the Government take practical steps to improve the Australian response to this particular COVID-19 risk, and to end measures that unnecessarily restrict human rights especially of people who are detained. Home Affairs agreed in full or in part with eight recommendations. This proportion of recommendation uptake by Home Affairs is a positive development, and the Commission will work with Government towards implementation of these recommendations. The report received positive feedback from civil society organisations, many of whom have used it to inform and strengthen their policy and advocacy work. The report was also well received by other detention monitoring bodies, which considered the report an important resource to inform and complement their own work. Just out of this reporting period, the program hosted a webinar in July 2021 with a focus on how the ongoing and serious risks posed by COVID-19 should be managed in Australia’s immigration detention facilities. A total of 80 stakeholders from across civil society, academia, government, and the health sector attended the webinar and discussion of the report. Monitoring immigration detention Also, in this period, the Commission published its report following physical inspections of all immigration detention facilities on the Australian mainland conducted in 2019. This report provides a comprehensive assessment of the human rights issues specific to individual facilities, as well as systemic issues across Australia’s immigration detention network. 32 Australian Human Rights Commission Annual Report 2020–2021