Australian Human Rights Commission
Contents
Report title October 2022
1
Introduction .............................................................................................. 3
1.1
Priority areas .......................................................................................... 3
2
Legal and institutional framework ......................................................... 4
2.1
Legislative and institutional rights protections ..................................... 4
2.2
National Human Rights Institution ......................................................... 4
2.3
Role of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights ............... 6
3
Implementation of OPCAT ....................................................................... 6
3.1
OPCAT progress to date........................................................................... 6
3.2
Scope of places of detention ................................................................... 8
3.3
Steps towards achieving best practice ................................................... 8
4
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
Immigration detention and asylum seekers ........................................ 10
Non-refoulement ................................................................................... 10
Mandatory immigration detention ....................................................... 11
Offshore processing .............................................................................. 12
COVID-19 and immigration detention ................................................... 13
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
Criminal justice system .......................................................................... 15
First Nations Peoples ............................................................................ 15
Youth justice system ............................................................................. 19
People with disability ............................................................................ 22
Other issues – Prison and remand ........................................................ 24
5
6
Violence against women and children .................................................. 25
6.1
Rates of violence and sexual harassment ............................................ 25
6.2
First Nations women and girls .............................................................. 27
6.3
Need for child-focused responses ......................................................... 29
7
Trafficking................................................................................................ 31
8
Counter-terrorism legislation ................................................................ 32
9
People with disability ............................................................................. 34
10
Older persons .......................................................................................... 36
11
Sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex issues .................... 37
Appendix: List of Recommendations ............................................................... 40
2