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.

On 2 March 2011 the Parliament established the Joint Select Committee on the Christmas Island Tragedy to inquire into the incident on 15 December 2010 in which a suspected irregular entry vessel (SIEV) foundered on rocks at Rocky Point on Christmas Island (CI).

Legitimate concerns about people smuggling should not cause Australia to depart from its international human rights obligations to treat asylum seekers humanely and with fairness according to this report.

In remembering Tampa and its consequences, both the banished asylum seeker and Christmas Islanders are again on the margins of society and are subject to the whims of government.

The arrival of two boatloads of asylum seekers is the first test of Labor’s new detention policy, writes Michelle Dimasi on Christmas Island on our partner website, Inside Story.