UN visit sparks renewed calls for Australia to overhaul immigration detention

A national coalition of legal, academic and advocacy organisations has today called for an urgent reform of Australia's immigration and detention system, releasing a joint submission to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

The Working Group begins an official 12-day visit to Australia today. Its investigations will include immigration detention policies that cause harm to people seeking safety and risk breaching international human rights law. The Working Group has previously expressed apprehension about the rising number of Australian immigration detention cases it receives, and alarm at the Government’s failure to ensure the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all people.

The joint civil society submission raises 17 areas of concern to be discussed with the Australian Government. Crucially, the submission urges the Working Group to reaffirm that immigration detention is meant to be an exceptional measure used only as a last resort, and to recommend that Australia introduce procedural safeguards to ensure that detention is lawful and subject to effective, periodic and independent review. The submission also urges the Working Group to recommend that Australia introduce a legally enforceable obligation not to detain children for immigration purposes under any circumstances.

Other areas of concern raised by the submission include:

• offshore detention in the context of offshore processing and third-country transfers to Nauru;
• the conditions and lack of effective oversight of immigration detention in Australia;
• the increased securitisation and use of force and restraints, and lack of adequate healthcare for people in immigration detention;
  
• the lack of post-release support for people who have spent protracted periods of time in detention, in order to reduce the risks of re-detention; and
• specific issues relating to the detention of women and other vulnerable groups, including people with disabilities, transgender people and children.

The civil society submission sets out clear steps the Australian Government can take to bring its policies into line with international law and ensure people seeking safety are treated with dignity.

The Working Group is a body of independent experts with a mandate to investigate cases of deprivation of liberty imposed arbitrarily or inconsistently with international human rights standards. Country visits occur at the invitation of national governments. During its visit to Australia, the Working Group will meet with national and local authorities, civil society and affected individuals. It will present its preliminary findings and recommendations at the conclusion of its visit, on 12 December 2025, and report to the UN Human Rights Council in September 2026.

Authors and supporting organisations include:  Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC), Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC), Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Australia, Refugee Advice & Casework Service (RACS), Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA), Associate Professor Mary Anne Kenny, Dr Eve Lester, Dr Claire Loughnan, Professor Savitri Taylor, Amnesty International Australia, Asylum Seekers Centre (ASC), Blue Mountains Refugee Support Group, Centre for Asylum Seekers, Refugees And Detainees (CARAD), Circle Green Community Legal Centre, Community Queensland, House of Welcome, National Justice Project and Rural Australians for Refugees Southern Highlands. 

Quotes for attribution:

Madeline Gleeson, Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Sydney, said: ‘After years of growing concern about arbitrary and unlawful detention practices in Australia, this visit provides an important opportunity for the Working Group to discuss urgent reforms with the Australian government. We call on the government to reaffirm the presumption of liberty, and to ensure that people are only ever deprived of their liberty when it is absolutely necessary to do so.’    

Laura John, Associate Legal Director, Human Rights Law Centre, said: ‘Australia is in the midst of an incarceration crisis, with migrants and refugees facing extended periods in immigration detention and the extension of detention into the community through punitive surveillance measures. We welcome this opportunity for the Working Group to hold our government accountable for its systemic and arbitrary deprivation of people’s liberty here in Australia and offshore in Nauru.’

Fr. Brett O’Neill, S.J., Country Director, Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Australia, said: ‘JRS Australia has accompanied refugees and people seeking asylum for more than 40 years, many in or in the wake of immigration detention. We have seen the harsh effects of detention without due process. The Working Group’s visit is an opportunity for Australia to reset; to recognise the profound harm caused by arbitrary detention, and move towards a humane, transparent system that upholds the dignity of every person seeking safety.’

Zaki Haidari, Refugee Rights Strategic Campaigner, Amnesty International Australia, said: ‘Australia’s mandatory detention and offshore processing policies are harsh, cruel and inconsistent with Government’s obligations under the international conventions it has signed. The conditions faced by the most vulnerable individuals in detention in Australia and offshore, and the length of time people are held in detention, raise many serious human rights concerns. We urge the Working Group to recommend that the Australian Government immediately end its mandatory detention policy and offshore processing regime.’ 

Paul Power, CEO, Refugee Council of Australia, said: ‘This civil society report delivers a damning assessment of ongoing human rights violations in Australia’s immigration detention system. It exposes the punitive, highly securitised nature of onshore facilities which, far from functioning as administrative centres, inflict serious harm on people lawfully seeking protection. As Australia enters a new phase of contracted security and health services in detention centres, the Refugee Council of Australia calls for urgent reform, better care and independent oversight to ensure detention is a last resort, and that Australia upholds its international obligations.’

Sarah Dale, Centre Director & Principal Solicitor, RACS said: ‘Immigration detention has been a source of shame for this country for far too long. With the UN visit, I hope the Australian Government will take seriously the chorus of voices at all levels, nationally and internationally, calling for people seeking safety to be treated with justice and dignity. Australia should be leading in human rights rather than continuing to treat flagrantly the human rights of refugees.’

Ogy Simic, Head of Advocacy, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said: ‘Australia's system of mandatory detention is shameful, and the abuses it has inflicted have caused immense pain and suffering to so many people - some of whom may never recover. This visit from the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is an opportunity for Australia to reassess this policy and the cruelty with which it is inflicted on innocent people

Read the full submission from Australia’s refugee sector.

For interviews or further information, contact:

Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Sydney: Ashleigh Steele, 0421308805, ashleigh.steele@unsw.edu.au

HRLC: Laura Murphy-Oates, laura.murphy-oates@hrlc.org.au

RACS: Hsu-Ann Khoury, media@racs.org.au

RCOA: Sophia Duckor-Jones, 0433447223, sophia.duckorjones@refugeecouncil.org.au

JRS Australia: Molly Jackson, communications@jrs.org.au

Amnesty International Australia: Rayana Ajam, media@amnesty.org.au

House of Welcome: 0424242010, Fabio Forgione, f.forgione@houseofwelcome.org.au

For more, visit the UNSW Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law.