UN inspectors raise alarm over Australia's treatment of disadvantaged groups in detention

By Saadet Gokce

ISTANBUL (AA) - A delegation of UN inspectors has raised the alarm about Australia's treatment of children, First Nations people, people with disability and migrants in detention, after a 12-day visit to the country.

While finding "much to commend" in Australia’s judicial independence and due process, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has raised concerns about transparency in human rights protections and warned that the country’s mandatory detention regime for refugees and asylum seekers violates an international human rights treaty, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The group visited 16 detention facilities, conducted interviews with 89 detained people and held meetings with multiple government, judicial and civil society groups across Australia.

The UN group was allowed to visit facilities across New South Wales, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, but was denied access to all Northern Territory institutions.

"In over 30 years of UN detention monitoring worldwide this is the first time an entire region of the country had completely refused co-operation with our working group," said Ganna Yudkivska, the chair.

Australia is the only country, apart from Rwanda, where the UN has terminated a visit, after a separate delegation was denied full access to some facilities in Queensland and New South Wales in 2023.

The group also heard "disturbing" reports that the Australian Border Force was detaining people intercepted at sea on rubber mats inside cages aboard boats, sometimes for weeks on end.

"The opacity surrounding this form of detention is of extreme concern and we call on the Commonwealth government to disclose the numbers, duration and conditions of such detention at sea," they said.

The delegation was also alarmed by the over-representation of First Nations people in prisons.

Australia recorded its highest number of Indigenous deaths in custody in 40 years between July 2024 and June 2025, the Australian Institute of Criminology said Wednesday.