138. The Committee for the Rights of the Child has also called for the Government to repeal the law that allows for the practice of remanding children into police custody.164 139. Please refer to the submission of the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for further information. 140. The Committee may wish to recommend that the Government: (a) Raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to align with international human rights standards; (b) Consider repealing the practice of remanding children into police custody and reduce the proportion of children in secure youth justice residences who are on remand; and (c) Recognise, respect and support Māori rangatiratanga (sovereign authority) and selfdetermination to design and implement our own initiatives to address Māori children and young people in detention in accordance with tikanga Māori. Inter-prisoner violence and deaths in custody (List of Issues Item 21 and 22) 141. The Chief Ombudsman undertakes systemic monitoring of deaths and serious incidents occurring in New Zealand prisons under the Ombudsmen Act 1975. Information regarding inter-prisoner violence and deaths in custody is discussed in the separate submission of the Office of the Ombudsman to the Committee. Detention of asylum seekers (List of Issues item 23) Independent review on the restriction of movement of asylum seekers 142. Under the Immigration Act 2009, asylum seekers who claim asylum at the border but are declined a visa can be detained for up to 96 hours in a Police cell, and then indefinitely in a Corrections facility, usually Mt Eden prison, a high security prison, pending resolution of their claim to be recognised as a refugee. Refugee claimants are held with and under the same conditions as remand prisoners and no special arrangements are in place so that Police and prison officers are aware they are refugee claimants. 143. Serious concerns have been raised about this practice. Amnesty International’s 2021 report Please take me to a safe place: The imprisonment of asylum seekers in Aotearoa New Zealand detailed the violations of asylum seekers rights that occur as part of this practice.165 144. In response, the Government commissioned an independent review by Victoria Casey QC (now KC) on the restriction of movement of asylum claimants, the report of which was published on 23 March 2022 (Casey Review).166 145. The Casey Review found that:167 164 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report of New Zealand at [43]. Amnesty International, Please take me to a safe place: The imprisonment of asylum seekers in Aotearoa New Zealand (2021) available at https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa32/4113/2021/en/. 166 Victoria Casey QC, Report to Deputy Chief Executive (Immigration) of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (23 March 2022) available at Report to Deputy Chief Executive (Immigration) of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment – Restriction of movement of asylum claimants (mbie.govt.nz). 167 Ibid., at [4]. 165 34