The UN’s children’s agency has called on the Turnbull government to commit to a timetable that would see all asylum seeker and refugee children off Nauru by the end of the year.
And Unicef Australia, as part of a five-point agenda, says the re-elected Coalition government should appoint a dedicated minister for children to “prioritise young people in policy making” and establish a national plan for children.
Uncief’s agenda calls upon the government to commit to resettling children and families on Nauru and adults on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, or nominate a time frame for their resettlement in a credible third country.
Unicef Australia’s director of policy and advocacy, Nicole Breeze, told the Guardian that Australia should commit to “resettlement of those people currently in offshore processing by the end of the calendar year 2016”.
But strict criteria, Breeze said, had to be established for resettlement countries so that they could safely accept refugees.
Nauru had made significant progress in implementing improvements to child welfare, including passing a child protection and welfare act, Breeze said, but the small island nation was still not a suitable nor safe place to resettle refugee children.
The island’s harsh physical environment, remaining gaps in governance and support services, and limited options for education or livelihood meant it was unlikely that families with children would be able to settle safely or successfully.
By moving asylum seekers and refugees to offshore processing islands, Australia was “unfairly shifting its responsibilities”, Breeze said.
“Nauru and Manus Island were never meant to be long-term solutions or resettlement options. It is our view that they are unsustainable. Australia’s offshore processing is a system in crisis and it is causing crises for those people in it.”
Current government policy is to resettle refugees held on Manus Island but these efforts have foundered. The detention centre, where more than 800 men are held, has been ruled illegal by the PNG supreme court.
Refugees on Nauru can choose to be moved to Cambodia but this arrangement, too, has been a costly failure, with only one person so far resettled there. Nauru has refused to permanently resettle any refugees.
Domestically, a federal-level minister in Australia dedicated to children, Breeze said, would be able to develop a national plan for children to improve standards of protection, education and healthcare.
Key issues for a national plan include:
- Addressing childhood inequality; an Acoss report found one in six Australian children live below the poverty line.
- Increasing investment in early childhood education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
- Ensuring all children are formerly registered at birth in Australia. A report in the Australia and New Zealand Journal of Public Health found one in five Indigenous children born in Western Australia were not formally registered at birth, meaning they had no official identity.
Ireland, Canada, and Britain have dedicated ministers for children, as have previous Australian governments: the Fraser, Hawke, Howard, Rudd and Gillard administrations all had ministers with portfolio responsibility for children or youth affairs.
Australia’s states and territories have dedicated ministers for children. Their portfolios are primarily concerned with child protection issues.
Unicef has also called on the government to restore Australia’s overseas development assistance contribution to former levels and promote overseas programs to counter child poverty.
The child rights agency argues that Australia’s ratification of the optional protocol to the convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment would offer greater oversight and protections for children in held detention.
