Monitoring of Places of Detention (Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture) Bill 2013 (TAS)

The treatment of asylum seekers remains a hot-button issue in Australian politics.

In Tasmania, the Monitoring of Places of Detention (Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture) Bill 2013 has been recently introduced. The Bill is based on a national model Bill which would allow Australia to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which Australia signed in 2009.

The Protocol aims to prevent torture and other inhuman punishment by establishing a system of regular visits by independent international and national bodies to places where people are deprived of their liberty. This includes prisons, police stations, psychiatric institutions, juvenile detention centres, and immigration detention centres.

The Bill provides the United Nations Sub-Committee with access to places of detention, as well as information on detainees, and sets out the duties of detaining authorities.

While Australia does have a range of institutions at the Federal and state levels, including Human Rights Commissions, Ombudsmen’s offices, Custodial Inspectorates, and NGOs, there remains no nation-wide independent system for monitoring places of detention. The Protocol proposes a system that looks at overall conditions and calls for analysis of risk factors.

Advocates believe that implementing the Protocol is a matter of vital importance in Australia. There have been numerous incidences of mistreatment in detention in Australia’s recent history, including the growing problem of Aboriginal deaths in custody, and the detention of mentally ill Indigenous people.

In immigration detention facilities, a major issue is suicide and self-harm. The UNHCR have reported deteriorating mental health in those detained on Manus Island and Nauru. Australia's detention policies themselves have been denounced as "inhumane" by the UN, making the implementation of the Protocol all the more urgent.

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 Monitoring of Places of Detention (Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture) Bill 2013 (TAS) via LawOne by TimeBase

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