Lawyers have lodged a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission over the return of grieving asylum seekers, including a young Iranian orphan, to Christmas Island.



Sydney barrister Stephen Blanks claims the return of nine-year old Seena, whose parents both died in the boat tragedy, to the island detention centre would constitute a breach of Australia’s obligations under the United Nations convention on the rights of the child.



Acting on behalf of the boy’s relatives in Sydney, Mr Blanks asked that the return be delayed until the commission rules on the complaint.



A spokesman for the immigration department could not confirm whether the department was aware of the complaint, however the 22 asylum seekers have today been flown out of Sydney on a charter flight - one bound for Perth, the rest for Christmas Island.



Child psychiatrist Louise Newman, who heads the government’s detention health advisory group, has described the decision to return the boy to Christmas Island as ‘‘bizarre, unnecessary and very damaging’’.



Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said today the boy would be placed in community care soon. ‘‘I’ve just got a few more checks to make to make sure that we have the appropriate care arrangements in place, the appropriate psychological support for him in place,’’ Mr Bowen told ABC radio.



A spokesperson for the Human Rights Commission declined to comment, saying the complaints process was confidential.

Seena was due to return to detention on the island, where locals fear he will resume a daily ritual of staring blankly and waiting at the gate for new boat arrivals, in the hope that his mother will be among them.

Seena, 9, grieves at the funeral for an eight-month-old baby drowned when an asylum-seeker boat broke up on rocks on Christmas Island. Credit:Getty

The only child was to fly back despite an offer from relatives in Sydney to care for him and warnings from mental health experts that going back will intensify the psychological harm already done. The boy told relatives yesterday that he feared returning to the scene of the tragedy that claimed both his parents.

A cousin, Jaffar Ali Alghban, said Seena's spirits picked up markedly yesterday when he was visited at Villawood detention centre by about 10 relatives. At the funeral, he had insisted he wanted to be ''buried with his father'', Mr Alghban told The Age. His mother's body has not been recovered.