Australia
In 1992, Australia instituted a policy of mandatory detention of all people, including
asylum seekers, who arrive in the country without proper travel documents.9 Detention is
immediate and automatic, meaning that charges are not brought, and appearances before
magistrates or courts to decide if detention is absolutely necessary or appropriate are not
permitted.10 Detention is also indefinite in its duration—lasting anywhere from a few
hours to a few years—as it must continue until asylum seekers are accepted as refugees
or deported in all but a rare number of situations.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, numerous NGOs, and Australia’s
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission have criticized Australia’s mandatory
detention policy.17 In the case of an asylum seeker who was detained for a period of over
four years, the United Nations Human Rights Committee found Australia’s detention
policy to be arbitrary in practice.18 A number of Australian health professionals have
raised concerns about the negative mental health implications of detaining asylum
seekers and NGOs have decried the dismal conditions in Australia’s six immigrant
detention facilities.19 Detention centers, most prominently the Woomera Immigration
Reception and Processing Centre, have been the sites of hunger strikes by asylum seekers
protesting lengthy delays in processing their applications and mistreatment.20
(this is edited from a longer document)
http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/refugees/reports/cntry_rev_02/Australia.pdf
