Stirling Griff (SA, Nick Xenophon Team) Share this | Hansard source

I, and also on behalf of Senator McKim, move:

That the Senate—

(a) acknowledges that 10 December 2017 is Human Rights Day which represents the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly which established the equal dignity and worth of every person;

(b) recognises that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights represents a milestone document in the history of human rights which proclaimed the inalienable rights that everyone is inherently entitled to as a human being, regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status;

(c) observes that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drafted by representatives of diverse legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world and sets out universal values and a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations;

(d) notes that:

  (i) children, as well as adults, have human rights and children also have the right to special protection because of their vulnerability to exploitation and abuse,

  (ii) December also commemorates Australia's ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, and

  (iii) Australia's ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child means that Australia has a duty to ensure that all children in its care enjoy the rights set out in the treaty;

(e) further notes that:

  (i) it has been over three years since the publication of 'The Forgotten Children' report—the report revealed that the prolonged, mandatory detention of asylum seeker children causes them significant mental and physical illness and developmental delays,

  (ii) at the time of the report's publication there were 132 children in detention in Nauru and 39 children remain in detention in Nauru, according to the Government's statistics, published on 31 October 2017,

  (iii) section 4AA(1) of the Migration Act 1958 explicitly states that 'a minor shall only be detained as a measure of last resort', and

  (iv) whilst the Government has reduced the number of children in detention, the fact that children remain in detention in unacceptable; and

(f) calls on the Government, as a matter of urgency, to end the prolonged and mandatory detention of asylum seeker children in Nauru.