Bishops’ urgent call on detainees

The
Catholic Weekly
Online

Sydney
23 May 2004

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Bishops’ urgent call on detainees

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Bishops’ urgent call on detainees

By CHRIS LINDSAY

Australia’s Catholic bishops have called for the Federal Government and all Australians to respond with urgency to the needs of asylum seekers and refugees, particularly children.

They say Australia must, as a matter of urgency, find alternatives to detention for unaccompanied minors and for children who accompany their parents.

The call coincides with a damning report by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission which recommended the release of all children from detention centres and residential housing projects.

The National Council of Churches in Australia has also backed the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s finding of Federal Government responsibility for cases of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detained asylum seeker children.

Meeting in their plenary session in Sydney, the bishops have called for the nation’s response to asylum seekers to be just, compassionate and consistent with Australia’s obligations under international law and the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees and with other conventions to which Australia is a signatory.

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