The Human Rights Watch has lambasted Australia for jailing children in their latest annual report, saying the government had “increasingly violated the rights of children in the criminal justice system in 2024”.
The report pointed to facilities designed for adults in Queensland and Western Australia where authorities had detained and the Northern Territory government lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 12 years to 10.
This comes as Queensland Premier, David Crisafulli, this week promised he would be making “many more” changes to strengthen the state’s already tough youth justice laws.
"It's gone from bad to worse. What we do know as well in Australia is that there's no Human Rights Act,” said Daniela Gavshon, the Australian Director of Human Rights Watch.
“So there's no overarching piece of legislation that puts all the human rights regulations and rules and responsibilities into one place. Australia is the only liberal democracy that doesn't have a Human Rights Act."