The Forgotten Children: Australia's treatment of asylum seeker and refugee children on the mainland and offshore

The AHRCentre and the Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law hosted a free public seminar: The Forgotten Children: Australia’s treatment of asylum seeker and refugee children on the mainland and offshore.

The Australian Human Rights Commission’s recent report on children in immigration detention has caused considerable controversy, and offers a rare insight into life inside Australia’s detention centres. At this seminar, Jennifer Whelan and Madeline Gleeson spoke of the key findings of the report and some of the questions it raises: What functions would an independent guardian for unaccompanied children have? Why are the interests of detained asylum seeker children assessed differently from those of other children? And where are these children now? They will also discussed the findings of the Moss inquiry into allegations of abuse and misconduct within the Nauru detention centre, and the latest developments in Australia’s treatment of asylum seeker and refugee children – both on the Australian mainland and offshore on Nauru.

Jennifer Whelan is Senior Lecturer at UNSW Law, a human rights and anti-discrimination lawyer,  a project director at the AHRCentre and a member of the Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law

Madeline Gleeson is a Research Associate at the Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law.

Listen to a podcast from this event. 
(There was a slight delay in recording the seminar, so it begins at about 6 minutes into the event)