The Human Rights Commission will investigate ways to protect young people against suicide and self-harm, the leading cause of death among Australians aged between 15 and 24 years.



After declining for some time, the suicide rate among young people has plateaued and remains “stubbornly high”, the children’s commissioner, Megan Mitchell, said.



“We’re just not making enough difference to that figure.”



Rates of self-harm, rising steadily, are “very alarming”, she said. More than 10,000 young people are admitted to hospital each year after deliberately harming themselves, but Mitchell says even this high figure is probably an underestimation.



One focus of the investigation will be improving the monitoring of youth suicide and self-harm. Currently data is collected for an age bracket that spans ages 15 to 24. “We’re not breaking down the numbers, and clearly an intervention will be different for a 24-year-old than someone 15 and below,” Mitchell said.



Current data also fails to record how many of the young people who self-harm or kill themselves are under the age of 18, the way in which they have harmed themselves, any previous self-harm incidents, where they live, or their cultural backgrounds.



Rates are worse among certain groups of young people, such as unaccompanied minors in detention. From January to August last year, 50 young people in detention reportedly self-harmed and a further 49 threatened to do so. Indigenous young people are also five times more likely to kill themselves or self-harm than other Australian youths.



A 2013 survey of gay or transgendered young people found that over a third had harmed themselves and 16% had attempted suicide. “Our attitude towards LGBTIQ young people are at best archaic, in that there’s not a good understanding, not good structural support around them, and we don’t yet have an acceptance of diversity,” associate professor Jane Burns, the chief executive of youth policy thinktank Young and Well, said.



“It requires a major societal shift in attitudes to acceptance”.



As well as improving data collection, Mitchell hopes the investigation will help the commission understand the factors driving young people to consider suicide, and the barriers that prevent many from seeking help.



Key to the investigation will be listening to young people themselves. “It’s absolutely critical to find out what the contemporary young person is experiencing, but it’s obviously a very sensitive area, so I’m working with agencies like Kids Help Line and Headspace to seek out young peoples’ stories,” Mitchell said.



Young people around the country will be invited to participate in roundtables across the country and submissions will be accepted until June.



Findings will be presented to federal parliament by November in the National Children’s Commissioner’s 2014 statutory report.



• For information and support in Australia, call Lifeline on 13 11 14, Mensline on 1300 789 978 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636. In Britain, visit the Samaritans website or call 08457 909090

