People seeking safety in Australia should be treated with dignity and respect, not banished to an offshore detention camp in another country. The Human Rights Law Centre continues to call for an end to this shameful policy.

PROJECT | Migration Justice 

People seeking safety in Australia should be treated with dignity and respect, not banished to a detention camp in another country. Australia’s long-standing policy of offshore detention has subjected thousands of people who came to Australia for protection to cruelty and harm.  

For years, the Human Rights Law Centre has supported the fight against offshore immigration detention, and to ensure justice for all of the people and families subject to it.

Together with partners, the Human Rights Law Centre supported over 60 people to bring the largest ever complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Committee about the Australian Government’s intentional separation of families between Australia and offshore detention camps in Nauru and Papua New Guinea.  

We brought legal proceedings that led to the medical evacuation of hundreds of people to Australia from offshore detention, and filed hundreds of legal proceedings in the High Court of Australia. These cases prevented the deportation of more than 550 people, including more than 200 children to offshore detention.

These cases have meant that kids spent their childhoods in Australian schools, parks and homes instead of languishing in a detention camp offshore.  

In June 2023, the Australian Government finally brought the last people trapped in Nauru for a decade to Australia. This was a testament to the powerful resistance from refugees and the efforts of countless people to expose the harm caused by offshore detention.

However Nauru’s offshore detention centre remains open, and there are now over 100 people who are stuck there. There are also still 40 people stuck in Papua New Guinea, abandoned by the Australian Government after the PNG High Court ruled the Manus Island offshore detention was unconstitutional. The Australian Government has also given itself powers to deport people indefinitely to Nauru.

We will continue to advocate for the closure of offshore processing centres, and demand justice for the thousands of people in Australia who have been left in limbo because of offshore processing.