Counter-terrorism laws and over-representation of Indigenous people in jail also come under scrutiny in Geneva

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A United Nations hearing into Australia’s record as a signatory to its anti-torture convention has been dominated by concerns that asylum seekers are being sent to inhumane conditions in the detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island.



The UN committee against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is in the process of assessing Australia’s record for the first time since 2008.

On Monday night in Geneva the committee sought further information on issues including Australia’s asylum-seeker policies, controversial counter-terrorism laws and the over-representation of Indigenous Australians in prisons.



Chairman Claudio Grossman, who heads a panel of 10 independent experts, raised concerns that conditions in offshore processing centres had been described by both Amnesty International and the UNHCR as “inhumane”.



“They are actually in a place surrounded by fences? And you need a guard to move from one place to the other?” Grossman asked, before requesting a copy of the guards’ training manual.



Grossman also questioned the Australian delegation on reports it takes 10 months for refugee claims to be processed on Nauru and two years in Papua New Guinea.



“That would produce tremendous anxiety in people,” he said. “I can’t imagine the number of people that are there and don’t know where they are or what is happening.”

Australia’s mandatory detention policy also went under the microscope.



“There is some kind of reaction every time we use the word mandatory. No discretion, everyone goes through,” Grossman said. “We’ve always said that children do not belong in detention centres. Are you considering changing this?”

The committee also asked for an update on allegations of child sex abuse in the Nauru detention centre.



Most questions from the 10 committee members during the two-hour hearing related to Australia’s immigration policies.



The Australian delegation, headed by its ambassador to the UN, John Quinn, will reply to the committee’s concerns early on Tuesday night, local time.



“You’ve given us a lot of homework to do,” Quinn said.



The UN committee is set to hand down its report card on 28 November.