UN racial discrimination complaint about Australia's youth justice policies
Across Australia, governments are locking up Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children at grossly disproportionate rates compared to non-Indigenous children.
An urgent complaint has been made to the United Nations about Australia’s discriminatory youth justice systems and how they seriously violate the human rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
The complaint has been submitted by Associate Professor Hannah McGlade with the support of the Human Rights Law Centre. The complaint has been endorsed by Professor Eddie Cubillo, the National Children’s Commissioner, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, the Australian Human Rights Commission, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and SNAICC – National Voice for our Children.
Too many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment and losing their lives at the hands of the criminal legal system. They are segregated from society and excluded from their communities and culture.
The laws, policies and government inaction that fuel this mass incarceration crisis are incompatible with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (“Convention”) and Australia’s other international human rights law obligations, including under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Urgent action is needed.
What is the legal basis of the complaint?
The complaint documents a significant and persistent pattern of racial discrimination against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children across Australia, demonstrated by:
draconian laws and policies in all states and territories, including low minimum ages of criminal responsibility, punitive bail laws and removal of detention as a last resort;
the escalation of these laws and policies: in recent months alone, the Northern Territory, Queensland and Victoria have implemented ‘tough on crime’ legislation that contradicts human rights law and nationally agreed targets for reducing the rate of incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children;
ongoing cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of children by criminal legal systems, such as the use of solitary confinement, spit hoods and strip searching; and
persistent government inaction on independent recommendations for reform, including on the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the National Children’s Commissioner’s landmark ‘Help Way Earlier!’ report in August 2024.
These all disproportionately impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
The complaint also notes that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Australia aren’t adequately protected against state-inflicted harm in prisons and police custody due to the absence of a national Human Rights Act and failure to fully incorporate international human rights obligations into domestic law, such as robust independent detention oversight mechanisms and frameworks that effectively prohibit all forms of racial discrimination.
What next?
The complaint has been submitted under the Committee’s Early Warning and Urgent Action procedure, which is reserved for serious violations of the Convention that are escalating and/or require immediate attention.
The complaint calls on the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to:
action the complaint without delay;
find that the Commonwealth Government of Australia is in breach of the Convention; and
urge the Government to take immediate and proactive steps to protect and promote the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
Published: 1 April 2025