The Royal Commission Into Youth Detention Finally Kicks Off Today
Human rights groups have called for immediate reform to the prison system.
The Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory will start proceedings today in Darwin, more than a month after the Don Dale prisoner abuse scandal attracted international headlines. Before the inquiry has even officially started a coalition of human rights groups have called for immediate reform to the way child prisoners are detained.
Junk Explained: Will The Royal Commission Into Juvenile Detention Change Anything?
The Royal Commission was announced by Malcolm Turnbull just hours after the ABC’s Four Corners broke the story of child prisoners in the Don Dale Detention Centre being strapped to chairs, covered in “spit hoods” and tear gassed. Despite calls for the Royal Commission to be expanded nationwide the inquiry will focus only the detention of children in the NT.
A number of Indigenous organisations have today criticised the Royal Commission’s short timeframe. They’re also worried that they might not have the resources to properly engage with the inquiry. “There is concern from all of the Aboriginal peak organisation partners,” the chief executive of the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance NT told the ABC. “We needed people three weeks ago to be working behind the scenes, researching, gathering, compiling information that’s relevant to the enquiry.”
Separately the Human Rights Law Centre, Amnesty International and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services have called for immediate changes to the way child prisoners are detained in the NT. They’re calling on the NT government to ban the use of solitary confinement and introduce an independent inspector.
In August the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights welcomed the Royal Commission but expressed concern that a number of international laws on human rights may have been breached. In particular, they warned that the convention on children and the convention against torture might have been broken. The UN also called for the scope of the Royal Commission to widened to the whole country.
The Royal Commission will hold hearings till the end of the year and deliver its report in March 2017.