Children neglected on Christmas Island, human rights inquiry finds
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Wish we weren't here: Children’s postcards from Christmas Island
Drawings by children in detention on Christmas Island.
Christmas Island detention centre has found children in a state of gross
neglect, with little to no access to education.
In the first stage of the Human Rights Commission's national
investigation into children in detention centres, the report found the
majority of the 315 children on the island had been in the detention
centre for six to eight months but had received only two weeks of
education.
Commission president Gillian Triggs, who has been to
Christmas Island numerous times, said this trip shocked her because of
the sheer number of children on the island and the unprecedented amount
of time they had been waiting for their claims to be processed.
Their physical appearance, including bloodshot eyes, skin
infections and weeping sores, was also alarming, she said. ''If we saw
these children in Australia, we would be reporting them to DOCS,'' said
Dr Triggs, who is due to hand down the findings of the national inquiry
in September.
In pictures drawn by the children, one depicts two girls
holding hands behind detention bars with the words: ''I need your help,
please help me'', while other drawings show frowning children crying,
also behind bars.
Dr Karen Zwi, a paediatrician who accompanied Dr Triggs to
the island, said there was a high level of anxiety among both the
children and adults in the centre.
''My main concern is their developmental health to play and
their basic skills of talking and running around,'' she said. ''We saw a
lot of skin infections and rashes.''
During their stay, they recorded instances of children biting themselves and others, and banging their heads.
Dr Zwi said many asylum seekers - both children and adults -
were also living in fear that they would be sent to Manus Island, which
has been quietly happening to many of their neighbours at 4am on
Fridays.
''Many of them mentioned the knock on the door and that they
would be killed on Manus,'' she said. ''We saw a lot of children who
were really depressed.''
Australia has obligations under international human rights
law to detain children only as a measure of last resort and to ensure
they are protected from harm, the report said. The inquiry continues.
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