Time to end MANDATORY DETENTION

The Australian Government has launched an unexpected but long-awaited inquiry into immigration detention - the system that gave us children in detention, the 'Pacific Solution', sewn lips, the Cornelia Rau affair, razor wire and condemnation from the international community.

We believe this Inquiry signals that the Government genuinely wants to put an end to Australia's inhumane detention regime, and for the first time they are asking us for our views. If ever you have despaired at the treatment of asylum seekers, put your name to GetUp's petition submission and help end this ongoing national shame:

www.getup.org.au/campaign/EndMandatoryDetention

GetUp believes, along with many other refugee advocacy organisations, that the immigration detention regime should meet the following principles:

1. Detention should not be mandatory. A mandatory detention regime is a breach of basic human rights principles.
2. Detention should never be indefinite. The Minister should not have the power to detain a person for life if they have committed no crime and pose no health or security risks. Strict time limits must be enacted.
3. Detention must be reviewable. The detention of any human being should be subject to the systems of legal review befitting a modern democracy.
4. Detention should be used as a matter of last resort.Detention should only be used where there is a proven security or compliance need.
5. Children should never be detained. Ever.
6. Detention centres should be humane. Detainees should be treated with dignity and respect. There must be genuine oversight by welfare and human rights bodies.
7. Detention centres should not be located in remote areas. Hiding asylum seekers away limits their access to legal, medical and social welfare services, and makes it difficult for family to visit.
8. Detention should never be used to punish those who seek asylum. Those who flee persecution have the right to ask for help.
9. Detention should be cost-efficient. Not only is the detention regime inhumane, it is more expensive than the community release options available.
10. Detention centres should have differing security levels appropriate for different types of detainee. The current one-stop-shop approach is inappropriate as it places vulnerable asylum seekers, visa over-stayers and sometimes dangerous or violent criminal deportees in the same centres.

GetUp has partnered with the following organisations in this campaign:

A Just Australia
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre
Human Rights Act for Australia Campaign Inc
Human Rights Law Resource Centre
The Justice Project
PolMin
Project SafeCom
Public Interest Law Clearing House