Breakfast by the Bay: Getting it Right – Australia’s obligations to our children in detention

Australia is failing to meet its international obligations to detainees, including its most vulnerable children.

 

In 2017 Australia ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT)—a treaty that supplements the 1984 United Nations Convention Against Torture. OPCAT requires every State and Territory to designate a National Preventive Mechanism to carry out inspections and oversight of police and prisons (as well as other places of detention) to protect against torture, mistreatment, abuse, and systemic failings.

 

The international deadline for governments to fully implement the anti-torture protocol was 20 January 2023. In February 2023, Australia joined Rwanda as the only countries in the world to have had visits cancelled by the UN torture prevention body after its access to detention facilities was blocked the previous year.

 

A recent Supreme Court decision in Western Australia indicates we are still not getting it right when it comes to our children in detention, with Queensland and the Northern Territory also under fire for youth rights violations.

 

Join the UWA Policy Institute for breakfast to listen to a distinguished panel of experts unpack Australia’s obligations under OPCAT and help plot out the best roadmap to getting justice right for our children.

• Professor Neil Morgan AM – Former Inspector of Custodial Services in Western Australia and Emeritus Professor at UWA Law School
• Megan Krakouer – Director National Suicide Prevention & Trauma Recovery Project, 2023 Perth Citizen of the Year and 2023 National NAIDOC Person of the Year finalist
• Dr Hayley Passmore – Lecturer in Criminology at the UWA Law School and Honorary Research Associate at the Telethon Kids Institute
• Linda Savage – MODERATOR – Children and Young People Ambassador
• Hon Dr Brad Pettitt MLC – Q & A Session- Member for South Metropolitan, Parliament of Western Australia

The price includes a two-course breakfast and panel discussion