Amnesty International Australia strongly condemns the Northern Territory government’s dangerous moves to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 10 years old, reintroduce spit hoods in youth detention facilities and introduce a suite of punitive, harmful measures in the name of youth justice.
The Finocchiaro CLP government is set to pass sweeping reforms to policing, detention practises and criminalisation in the next two sitting weeks of the territory’s Legislative Assembly. Many of these regressive policies directly contravene the findings of the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory, as well as international human rights standards.
Amnesty International reiterates its warning that lowering the age of criminal responsibility will excacerbate the overrepresentation of First Nations children in detention, and further entrench disadvantage and racism in the justice system.
“The Country Liberal Party’s dangerous plan to further criminalise and incarcerate children as young as 10 years old and subject them to torturous practices of solitary confinement and spit-hoods underscores the urgent need for national standards for youth justice that protect the human rights of children,”
Kacey Teerman, Amnesty International Australia’s Indigenous Rights campaigner
“The Country Liberal Party’s dangerous plan to further criminalise and incarcerate children as young as 10 years old and subject them to torturous practices of solitary confinement and spit-hoods underscores the urgent need for national standards for youth justice that protect the human rights of children,” says Kacey Teerman, Amnesty International Australia’s Indigenous Rights campaigner.
“Unicameral systems like the Northern Territory and Queensland parliaments lack the oversight of a second chamber. This means that the swathes of youth justice legislation the CLP plans to push through the NT legislative assembly in the next fortnight will have little to no scrutiny, further exacerbating the risk that these rushed, reactionary laws will harm vulnerable children,” says Kacey Teerman.
It is the Commonwealth’s responsibility to ensure Australia complies with our obligations for the treatment of children within the justice system under international law. These obligations, including Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) are designed to ensure that children are treated with dignity, respect, and fairness at all stages of the justice process.
“Amnesty International joins with other human rights organisations, including the Australian Human Rights Commission, to urgently call for national leadership to align Australia’s youth justice system with its international human rights obligations, prioritising the welfare of children in detention,” says Kacey Teerman.
In addition to national reforms including standards of care for youth justice, Amnesty International reiterates its call on the NT government to heed the evidence, listen to the recommendations of the Royal Commission, and abandon these dangerous policies.
“The NT government’s plan is a misguided approach to youth crime that will have long-term negative consequences for children, particularly Indigenous children, in the Territory. Locking up children only deepens the cycle of trauma and disadvantage, particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who are already overrepresented in the justice system,” says Kacey Teerman.
“We call on the NT government to heed the evidence, listen to the recommendations of the Royal Commission, and abandon these dangerous policies.”
