6 February 2002

"The Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission Report on Woomera Detention Centre shows that the children detainees must be urgently released into the community and allowed to attend Australian schools." Australian Education Union (AEU) Federal Secretary Rob Durbridge said on the release of the Report.

"The AEU will work to ensure that public schools provide the support and programs that refugee children need to repair the damage done by long incarceration," he said.

"The report shows children are not allowed to attend school. Some children under 12 years of age attend some classes run by the prison authorities in closed school buildings for two hours a day on four days a week. Secondary children receive virtually no education at all. The lost opportunities and lost freedom are imposing a huge cost on children whose only crime was to come to Australia. These measures are in breach of Article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child which requires Australia to provide education to all children within its jurisdiction. As a civilized society we owe it to them to do better than we are. "

"The report details horrific psychological trauma leading to despair and a propensity for self-harm and even suicide. The AEU is offering to co-operate with education authorities in all states and territories to provide the education and counselling programs now required by these children. If necessary, we will call for skilled volunteers to undertake the work."

"Now is the time for the Howard-Ruddock experiment in criminalizing asylum-seekers to come to an end. Let's start by releasing children to live peacefully in the community with their parents or carers and to attend our schools as generations of immigrants have done before them. If they are found to be genuine refugees they can then continue in their new communities. That program is working perfectly well in New Zealand and at a fraction of the cost."

Contact:
AEU Federal President, Denis Fitzgerald on 0416 254 154
AEU Federal Secretary, Rob Durbridge on 03 9693 1800 or 0406 560 368