Statement On Children in Immigration Detention
Children’s Healthcare Australia Position Statement On Children in Immigration Detention
As a community of
more than 80 paediatric healthcare services across
Australia, Children’s Healthcare Australasia wishes to add
its voice to concerns raised in the Australian and
international communities about the harmful effects on both
physical and mental health of immigration detention on
children and their families.
CHA recognises that indefinite detention of children seeking asylum has profound negative impacts on children’s health and that of their families, and express our opposition to the detention of children seeking asylum in Australia.
CHA also acknowledges that healthcare professionals and managers of children’s services experience significant distress when being obliged to discharge children admitted to their care back into an environment likely to cause significant further harm to the child’s health.
CHA supports all children seeking asylum being treated in accordance with Australia’s undertaking to observe the International Convention on the Rights of the Child.
References:
1. Robjant K, Hassan R, Katona
C. Mental health implications of detaining
asylum
seekers: systematic review. Br J Psychiatry
2009;194:306-12.
2. Sultan A, O'Sullivan K. Psychological
disturbances in asylum seekers held in long
term
detention: a participant-observer account. Med J
Aust 2001;175:593-6.
3. Steel Z, Momartin S, Bateman C, et
al. Psychiatric status of asylum seeker families
held for
a protracted period in a remote detention centre in
Australia. Aust NZ J
Public Health 2004;28:527-36.
4.
Mares S, Jureidini J. Psychiatric assessment of children and
families in immigration
detention - clinical,
administrative and ethical issues. Aust NZ J Public
Health
2004;28:520-6.
5. Young P, Gordon MS. Mental
health screening in immigration detention: A fresh
look
at Australian government data. Australasian
Psychiatry 2016;24:19–22.