Australian Human Rights Commission Report title October 2022 likely to be diverted than non-Indigenous children and young people.104 Additionally, children and young people may be denied bail and held in remand due to a lack of permanent accommodation, or because they are in out of home care.105 89. The Commission remains concerned about children held in adult prisons. Each state and territory has legislation that allows children to be detained in adult facilities under certain circumstances.106 As recently as July 2022, Western Australia transferred a group of 20 predominately First Nations children to a maximum security prison, where they were separated from adult prisoners.107 In Queensland, children are detained in police watchhouses for days at a time, despite a 2019 commitment by the Queensland Government to end this practice.108 The Commission has consistently advocated for Australia to withdraw its reservation to article 37(c) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child regarding the obligation to separate children from adults in prison.109 90. Human rights concerns have been raised in relation to the policing of children and young people. For example, the Commission is concerned that the NSW police have repeatedly strip-searched children – more than 100 children were among those searched between July 2020 and May 2022. 110 Recommendation 16: Governments should explicitly prohibit the use of isolation practices and force as punishment in youth justice facilities. These practices should only be permitted when necessary to prevent an imminent and serious threat of injury to the child or others, and only when all other means of control have been exhausted. Recommendation 17: The Northern Territory Government fully implement the recommendations of the Northern Territory Royal Commission. Recommendation 18: Governments legislate against the detention in adult facilities of persons under 18 years. Recommendation 19: Governments raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 years to at least 14 years. Recommendation 20: Governments ensure that imprisonment of children and young people occurs only as a last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time, including through identifying and removing barriers for young offenders accessing diversionary programs, in particular for First Nations children. Governments should expand the 21