LATELINE
Late night news & current affairs
TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT
LOCATION: abc.net.au > Lateline > Archives
URL:
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2003/s852962.htm
Broadcast: 12/5/2003
Children in detention suffer a 'living nightmare': study
A living nightmare - that is how life for children inside detention is
being described. The first systematic study of mental health inside detention
has found a tenfold increase in psychiatric illness among children. Regular
suicide attempts, violence between guards and detainees, verbal abuse,
room searches and solitary confinement are just some of the traumas experienced
by children.
 |
The study also records a shameful world first for Australia - the highest levels of mental illness among children ever recorded in modern medical literature. Click image for larger view Download poster here Download poster here |
Compere: Tony Jones
Reporter: Margot O'Neill
MARGOT O'NEILL: Locked away in detention camps for more than two years, children as young as three have seen riots and bashings.
They see adults - sometimes their own parents - slash their wrists, hang themselves, jump off buildings, breaking bones.
They're woken at night for head counts and called numbers instead of names.
At times they're even separated from their parents for lengthy periods.
And all of this while they're in the care of the Australian Government.
ZACHARY STEEL, SCHOOL OF PSYCHIATRY, UNIVERSITY OF NSW: All of the children that we assessed had witnessed one incident where one of the detainees ran out into the main compound with a razor, and slashed himself repeatedly all over his body.
And one of the children were even splashed with blood.
They are living in nothing short of a nightmare.
MARGOT O'NEILL: Backed by some of Australia's most eminent psychiatrists, the study assessed 10 families with 20 children, aged from 3 to 19.
One of its most distressing findings is that the children were mostly healthy before being locked up.
But after two years in Australian detention camps, they're all suffering at least one psychiatric illness and more than half of them have multiple disorders - most commonly major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
That's ten times above the norm for mental illness - the highest ever recorded for children in modern medical literature.
ZACHARY STEEL: It is hard to conceptualise how you could conceptualise this experience in camp as anything other than systemic child abuse.
MARGOT O'NEILL: There has long been concerns in the Australian medical community about the effects of detention on children.
In an unprecedented move last year, the entire profession, from psychiatrists to specialists to GPs, called on the Federal Government to stop locking up children and their parents.
Even then, there were detailed first-hand reports of babies failing to develop and adolescents trying to commit suicide.
In the horrific case of Shayan Bedrai, a 6-year-old child had become near catatonic.
DR MICHAEL DUDLEY, CHAIRMAN, SUICIDE PREVENTION AUSTRALIA, 'LATELINE' MAY 1, 2002: A lot of kids are severely distressed and they're weeping, they're mute, they can't eat, they can't socialise, they can't play.
MARGOT O'NEILL: Back then, the Government questioned whether the doctors' anecdotes proved there was systematic mental illness.
TONY JONES, 'LATELINE' MAY 1, 2002: Those doctors are saying the families and the children should be let out of detention.
PHILIP RUDDOCK, IMMIGRATION MINISTER, 'LATELINE' MAY 1, 2002: Yes, I understand that, and that means unwinding mandatory detention, and we're not about to do that.
MARGOT O'NEILL: This report is the doctors' answer.
ZACHARY STEEL: The answer is obvious - these centres are no place for children.
And the evidence we've gathered today demonstrates that irrefutable.
MARGOT O'NEILL: The authors say the report had to be done in secret following the Government's refusal to cooperate in a comprehensive survey.
So they relied on telephone interviews.
While the authors say they can't guarantee some of the claims are not exaggerated, they emphasise that the information was largely corroborated in scores of separate interviews.
DR SARAH MARES, NSW INSTITUTE OF PSYCHIATRY: I think that evidence is mounting that this is a far from satisfactory situation.
MARGOT O'NEILL: The report has 12 authors, including psychiatrists with the backing of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry, the NSW University and the NSW Institute of Psychiatry.
In the report, all the children claimed to have seen people self-harm and make suicide attempts.
95 per cent had seen a physical assault.
Nearly 40 per cent claimed to have been assaulted by camp officers.
One quarter claimed to have been kept in solitary confinement.
And around 10 per cent alleged sexual harassment.
Immigration Minister Phillip Ruddock acknowledged last December that the system needed to change and announced plans to find alternative accommodation for mothers and children.
But there are still over 100 children in detention centres tonight, some of them without any family to look after them.
This report makes clear that every day those children are locked up could damage their wellbeing, especially if the detention is prolonged.
There was no response from the Government on that issue tonight.
Instead, a spokesman for the minister said the authors themselves admit some of the claims may be exaggerated and pointed out that all the cases deal with failed asylum seekers.
The report will be released in Australia tomorrow and published internationally in the near future.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MULTIMEDIA
Watch the video
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2003/05/20030512ll_health.ram
backup - If unavailable
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lateline Archives About
Lateline@your.abc.net.au
© 2003 Lateline. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.