This paper argues that the UK Home Office should lose its responsibility for immigration, with a new arm’s-length body named Sanctuary UK set up to overhaul the system and create a new, more humane system.

This report sets out important additional steps the Australian government should take to improve measures to combat the risk of COVID-19 in immigration detention. It also recommends some more targeted measures to reduce the negative human rights impact on people in detention.

This report is a multi-disciplinary collaboration which highlights the Australian government’s intentional use of family separation against people who seek asylum. Calling on leading medical experts and international law specialists, this report shows that the Australian government’s tactic of separating families is not merely morally...

The Australian Human Rights Commission has conducted inspections of immigration detention facilities in Australia since the mid-1990s. This report documents the Commission’s key observations and concerns, in relation to treatment and conditions in immigration detention arising from inspections of all facilities on the Australian mainland...

This briefing focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on asylum seekers holding Bridging Visas (BVs “A”, “C” and “E”), and refugees on Safe Haven Enterprise Visas (SHEVs) and Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs).

It has been seven years since the Australian government announced that anyone who arrived in Australia by boat to seek protection would be taken to offshore processing centres. This report provides a snapshot of where Australia is at, seven years after the July 2013 announcement.

The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) aims to improve how people’s human rights are protected when they are detained. The Australian Human Rights Commission believes that there needs to be greater momentum in...

The audit objective was to assess whether the Department of Homes Affairs has appropriately managed the procurement of garrison support and welfare services for offshore processing centres in Nauru and PNG (Manus Island).

The practice of moving detainees around Australia’s immigration detention network is doubly unjustifiable on economic and humanitarian grounds

After much negotiation, the Morrison Government has secured the repeal of the medical evacuation law – known as “medevac” – after making a secret deal with Senate cross-bencher, Jacqui Lambie.

The issue of the use of force in immigration detention has been raised in a range of complaints against the Department of Home Affairs received by the Australian Human Rights Commission. This report deals thematically with 14 complaints.

This report examines a large immigration detention center in rural New Mexico, run by CoreCivic, one of the largest private corporations running prisons and detention centers.

This report reveals the human rights situation for approximately 30,000 refugees and asylum seekers who arrived in Australia by boat before 1 January 2014. Due to a number of legal and policy changes since 2012, these people are treated differently from other groups of asylum...

Drawing on the voices of visitors, this brief sets out key facts on the current situation in onshore immigration detention in Australia; the conditions and impacts of prolonged detention; the important role of visitors and the nature of restrictive rules and regulations on visiting detention...

People held in immigration detention, as well as staff working in detention facilities, face genuine risks to their health, safety, security and their human rights more broadly. This report assesses how the Australian government identifies and manages those risks.

This report contains an overview of key observations and concerns arising from the Australian Human Rights Commission’s inspection of the Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre (CIIDC) in August 2017.

This report contains an overview of key observations and concerns arising from the Australian Human Rights Commission’s inspection of the Brisbane Immigration Transit Accommodation (BITA) facility in September 2017.

On any fair reading, the cases of the nannies don’t go anywhere near meeting the ministry's own guidelines for formal ministerial intervention.

This report contains an overview of key observations and concerns arising from the Australian Human Rights Commission’s inspection of the Adelaide Immigration Transit Accommodation (AITA) facility in July 2017.

This report contains an overview of key observations and concerns arising from the Australian Human Rights Commission’s inspection of the Perth Immigration Detention Centre (PIDC) in August 2017.

This report showcases the spirit of volunteerism in Australia, presenting the accounts of many volunteers who continue visiting detention facilities despite difficulties, so they can bring people hope and get their voices and concerns heard.

This guide provides current statistics on immigration detainees in Australia (onshore) since 1989/90. It updates the appendices of a more detailed Parliamentary Library research paper, Immigration detention in Australia (2013). The research paper includes an overview of the historical and political context surrounding mandatory immigration...

Australia’s new Human Rights Commissioner, Edward Santow, will use his first year in office to focus on the treatment of people in detention in Australia.

This report explores the human, economic and strategic cost of Australia’s current policies which seek to deter asylum seekers from migrating to Australia by sea. It examines the impact of these policies in a domestic, regional and global setting, and provides a set of alternatives...

This report argues that Australia must do more to address the culture of secrecy surrounding its immigration and asylum seeker policies. Secrecy increases risks to the health, safety, and dignity of people in our care and prevents the Australian public from knowing what is being...