Australian Human Rights Commission Submission to UN Committee Against Torture, 17 October 2014 133. A last resort? was the catalyst for significant changes in arrangements for the detention of children since 2003. This included that children are no longer detained in high security immigration detention centres and the Migration Act now affirms that minors should only be detained as a measure of last resort.114 However, these gains have unravelled since 2011. By July 2013 there were a record large number of children being detained in closed immigration detention facilities. 134. As a result, the Commission commenced a new National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention in February 2014. This is to consider the impact of immigration detention on the health, well-being and development of children, and whether laws, policies and practices relating to children in immigration detention meet Australia’s international human rights obligations.115 The Inquiry has involved detention centre visits, interviews with families and children in detention, submissions and the conduct of 5 public hearings. The report of the Inquiry will be transmitted to the Government in November 2014 and will be released subsequent to this (likely in December 2014). (b) Conditions of detention for children 135. Australia has a specific obligation under article 37(c) of the CRC to ensure that children in detention are treated with humanity and respect for their inherent dignity. 136. The Commission has concerns about the conditions of detention in some facilities in which children are detained, due to the harsh physical environments in remote locations (such as at the Leonora Alternative Place of Detention), and the lack of appropriate recreational spaces, activities and access to education in facilities such as those on Christmas Island. 137. Long periods in immigration detention facilities puts children at high risk of serious mental harm, which may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in breach of the CRC. (c) Unaccompanied minors in immigration detention 138. Australia has obligations to children who arrive in Australia unaccompanied, especially those who are seeking asylum, to ensure that they receive special protection and assistance. 139. An important element of the care of unaccompanied minors is effective guardianship. In the absence of their parents, the legal guardian of an unaccompanied minor has the ‘primary responsibility for the upbringing and development of the child’, and is under an obligation under the CRC to act in the best interests of the child. 140. Under Australian law, the Minister is the legal guardian of ‘non-citizen’ unaccompanied minors. 141. The Commission is concerned that the Minister’s role as guardian of unaccompanied minors creates a conflict of interest, as the Minister is also responsible for administering the immigration detention regime under the 38