Australian Human Rights Commission Australia and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), Shadow report to the CERD Committee �� 8 July 2010 a place is referred to as an ‘offshore entry person’. The purpose of these amendments was to bar offshore entry persons from being able to apply for a visa, unless the Minister for Immigration determines that it is in the public interest to allow them to do so. See Migration Act 1958 (Cth), ss 5(1), 46A. Under sections 189(3) and 189(4) of the Migration Act, unlawful non-citizens in excised offshore places may be detained. The current policy of the Australian Government is that all unauthorised boat arrivals in excised offshore places will be subject to mandatory detention on Christmas Island. 110 Migration Act 1958 (Cth), ss 189 (1), 189(2). 111 Migration Act 1958 (Cth), s 196(1). 112 C Evans, New Directions in Detention – Restoring Integrity to Australia’s Immigration System (Speech delivered at the Centre for International and Public Law Seminar, Australian National University, Canberra, 29 July 2008). At http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/speeches/2008/ce080729.htm (viewed 14 April 2010). 113 Australian Human Rights Commission, Submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs on the Migration Amendment (Immigration Detention Reform) Bill 2009 (2009). At http://humanrights.gov.au/legal/submissions/2009/20090731_migration.html (viewed 14 April 2010). 114 See, for example Australian Human Rights Commission, 2008 Immigration detention report: Summary of observations following visits to Australia’s immigration detention facilities (2009). At http://humanrights.gov.au/human_rights/immigration/idc2008.html (viewed 5 May 2010). 115 Commonwealth of Australia, Combined Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Periodic Reports of the Government of Australia under Article 9 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (2009), para 278. 116 Australian Human Rights Commission, 2008 Immigration detention report, note 114, section 7. 117 Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Community and Detention Services Division, Immigration Detention Statistics Summary (2 April 2010). At http://www.immi.gov.au/managing-australiasborders/detention/facilities/statistics/ (viewed 6 May 2010). 118 As above. 119 Commonwealth of Australia, note 115, p114. 120 Department of Immigration and Citizenship, note 117. 121 Department of Immigration and Citizenship, note 117. 122 See, for example Australian Human Rights Commission, 2008 Immigration detention report, note 114, section 6; Australian Human Rights Commission, 2009 Immigration detention and offshore processing on Christmas Island (2009), section 10, at http://humanrights.gov.au/human_rights/immigration/idc2009_xmas_island.html (viewed 5 May 2010). 123 Department of Immigration and Citizenship, ‘Immigration detention services contract signed’ (Media Release, 29 June 2009). At http://www.newsroom.immi.gov.au/media_releases/726 (viewed 4 May 2010). 124 Commonwealth of Australia, note 115, pp 66-67. For further information about the Commission’s inspections, see http://humanrights.gov.au/human_rights/immigration/detention_rights.html#9_3. 125 The Commission’s immigration detention inspection reports are available at http://humanrights.gov.au/human_rights/immigration/detention_rights.html#9_4. 126 Australian Human Rights Commission, 2008 Immigration detention report, note 116. 127 Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (2002) (OPCAT). At http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cat-one.htm (viewed 4 May 2010). The Australian Government has signed OPCAT, but has not yet ratified it. 128 In 2008, the Commission released a report of research it commissioned into options for implementing OPCAT in Australia. The report suggests a mixed National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) model, with separate NPMs in each state and territory and a national coordinating NPM. The report suggests that the Commission should be the national coordinating NPM. See Report to the Australian Human Rights Commission by Professors Richard Harding and Neil Morgan, Centre for Law and Public Policy, The University of Western Australia, Implementing the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture: Options for Australia (2008). At http://www.humanrights.gov.au/human_rights/publications/opcat/index.html (viewed 4 May 2010). 129 See Commonwealth of Australia, note 115, p 67; Australian Human Rights Commission Act (1986) (Cth), s 11(1)(f). 130 Australian Human Rights Commission Act (1986) (Cth), s 46. 131 Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (2002) (OPCAT). At http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cat-one.htm (viewed 4 May 2010). The Australian Government has signed OPCAT, but has not yet ratified it. 60