movement via a free telephone call, fax, or email. Removal from Australia and discharge from facility Standard Sources Removal or discharge is conducted sensitively and humanely. Systems are in place to ensure that detainees are assessed by health staff, are fit to travel and that property is returned to them. Detainees who are being removed from Australia are given adequate time to contact relatives, close their affairs in Australia and receive information they may need in order to enter the country to which they are being removed. Detainees who are being released into the Australian community should be provided with information about any assistance they are eligible to receive post-release. Treaties: ICCPR 6, 7, 9 (security of the person), 10, 17, 23; CAT 2, 16; ICESCR 12. Interpretive instruments: UNRPJDL 35, 79, 80. Conditions of escort Standard Sources Detainees are escorted in vehicles that are: safe, secure, clean and comfortable equipped with adequate storage for their property equipped with emergency supplies and hygiene packs suitable for the needs of women and children reasonably private for detainees. Appropriate vehicles are used to transport detainees with special needs, such as pregnant women, women with babies, children, and detainees with a disability, in a dignified manner. Detainees are monitored and are able to communicate with staff during escort. Escort staff have the necessary training, skills and background checks to transport vulnerable detainees, including children. Treaties: ICCPR 7, 9 (security of the person), 10, 17; CAT 2, 16; ICESCR 12; CRC 3, 37(c); CRPD 14(2). Interpretive instruments: SMR 45; BOP 24; UNRPJDL 26, 29; (by analogy) EPR 32.1, 32.2, 33.3.
Arrival Standard Sources On arrival at an immigration detention facility, detainees are promptly received into a safe, clean and supervised area, consistent with standards on humane detention. Detainees with special needs are identified at induction and receive priority treatment consistent with those needs. Treaties: ICCPR 7, 10; CRPD 14(2); CRC 37(c). National law: Work Health and Safety Act ss 17-19, 28-29, 35-39. Registration Standard Sources On reception, detainee details are recorded and kept securely (see the Standards on ‘information privacy’). Detainee details include: information concerning identity the day and hour of the detainees’ admission to an immigration detention facility precise information concerning the place of detention details of contact or attempted contact with relatives on admission. Treaties: ICCPR 9, 10, 17. Interpretive instruments: SMR 7; BOP 12; UNRJPDL 21; UNHCR Guidelines 8 [48(iv)]. Physical and mental health screening Standard Sources All detainees are screened on arrival by health staff, in private and using interpreters of the appropriate ethnicity. Detainees are offered appointments with staff and interpreters of the same gender where possible. Screening results are recorded in each detainee’s health summary. Children are also given a health screening appropriate to their age. If accompanied, children’s screening occurs with the permission and involvement of their parents. If unaccompanied, an appropriate guardian or advocate Treaties: ICESCR 12; ICCPR 9 (security of the person), 10, 17; CRPD 15, 25; CRC 3, 5, 16, 18, 20, 23, 24. Interpretive instruments: BOP 24; Principles of Medical Ethics 1.
legal assistance and advice and to the services of an interpreter when needed, as well as relevant worker and detainee work health and safety duties (see further ‘information dissemination and communications’ section of the Standards). Standards (2011) p 72; UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment 8 [1]). International case law: Ahmadou Sadio Diallo (Republic of Guinea v Democratic Republic of the Congo) (Judgment) [2010] International Court of Justice (ICJ) Rep 639, 670. Meeting immediate basic needs Standard Sources Detainees are offered a shower and clean clothing if necessary, food and drink, and a hygiene pack containing essential items (e.g. toothbrush), if necessary. Treaties: ICCPR 10; ICESCR 11, 12. Induction to the facility Standard Sources Each detainee is provided with an induction to the immigration detention facility. The induction ensures detainees know how to contact and complain to monitoring bodies such as the Australian Human Rights Commission, the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Interpretive instruments: SMR 35; UNRPJDL 24, 25; UNHCR Guidelines 7 [47(vii)]. Information dissemination and communications Clear communication is essential for ensuring that detainees know their rights and responsibilities. Detainees will require clear information about their rights and responsibilities at various times throughout the immigration process – for example, when they arrive in detention or they are transferred or removed. Information dissemination and communications Standard Sources Important information is provided in writing and orally, and Treaties:
in terms that are easily understood by detainees. This may require the provision of information through means such as handbooks, posters and DVDs displayed in communal areas of the facility. The information to be provided includes: detainees’ rights and responsibilities while in detention the contact details of providers of legal assistance to resolve status contact details of the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the Australian Human Rights Commission contact details of diplomatic or consular representatives of the State of origin or nationality contact details of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees the detention facility rules and procedures including behaviour management agreements and procedures for making complaints. All communication and information dissemination must be in a language and in terms that the detainee can understand. Detainees who do not understand English or whose English is not adequate should be provided with translations of important documents relevant to their detention and legal status. In addition, or where the detainee has low literacy, the information should be communicated orally in a language and in terms that the detainee understands. ICCPR 2, 10; Refugee Convention 35; VCCR 36(b). Interpretive instruments: CPT Standards (2011) p 66; BOP 7, 16(2), 18(2), 33; SMR 30(3), 35, 36, 38; UNRPJDL 75-78; UNHCR Guidelines 7 [47(i),(ii), (vi) & (vii)]. External communication and contact Holding a person ‘incommunicado’ – that is, detaining them without communication or contact with people outside the detention facility – is a serious violation of international human rights law. It may enable torture and may itself amount to torture or cruel or inhuman or degrading treatment. Detention must not have a disproportionate impact on rights such as family life, freedom of association or freedom of expression. Legal matters relating to the person’s detention (e.g. challenges to the power to detain or hearings to determine refugee status) must be facilitated. Detainees must know how to contact a lawyer and to complain about their treatment in detention, for example to the Commonwealth Ombudsman or the Australian Human Rights Commission.
glasses or wheel chairs, are made available on the recommendation of medical staff. SMR 22, 24, 25; UNRPJDL 49; UNHCR Guidelines 8 [48(vi)]. National law: Common law duty of care. Health records and confidentiality Standard Sources Eeach detainee has a clinical record containing an and comprehensive assessment and care plan (if required), including medical history, which conforms to professional guidance and regulatory standards. All health records are kept securely in accordance with relevant legislation and national guidelines. Doctor-patient confidentiality is respected. Medical information is provided to staff of the facility and the Department in accordance with the use and disclosure provisions of the Privacy Act. Treaties: ICESCR 12; ICCPR 10, 17. Interpretive instruments: BOP 26; UNRPJDL 19, 21; UNHCR Guidelines 7 [47(viii)]; (by analogy) World Health Organisation Guidelines on HIV Infection and AIDS in prisons [31] and [32]. National law: Privacy Act s 14 (Information Privacy Principle 10, 11); Common law duty of care. Sexual health Standard Sources Culturally appropriate information and counselling regarding sexual health and family planning is available to all detainees and detainees are able to obtain barrier contraceptives discreetly e.g. by asking health staff or through a dispenser. Age-appropriate education concerning sexual health is available for children and young persons. This is delivered in a culturally sensitive manner in cooperation with their parents. Treaties: ICESCR 12; ICCPR 10; CEDAW 12, 16(e); CRC 24(f), 29; CRPD 25(a). Interpretive instruments: Declaration of Alma-Ata VII(3); Beijing Declaration 17, 30; (by analogy) Bangkok Rules 14. Substance abuse Standard Sources Substance dependent detainees are comprehensively and Treaties:
Accommodation safety and security Standard Sources Detainees are safe when in their rooms and in communal areas of the facility. Security measures are appropriate in light of the particular vulnerabilities of persons held in immigration detention (see the Standards on ‘security’). Accommodation is free from hanging points. There is suitable storage for property. Adequate emergency management procedures are in place. Treaties: ICCPR 6, 7, 10; CAT 2, 16. Interpretive instruments: SMR 27. Children’s special needs Children should not be held in immigration detention facilities except as a ‘last resort’ and for the ‘shortest appropriate period of time’ (CRC 37(b)). In the exceptional case where children are held in immigration detention facilities, they are owed particular obligations because of their status as children. Decisions to detain children and their families Standard Sources Children are not detained except as a ‘last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time’. Children are not separated from parents or primary unless this is in the best interests of the child. Primary care-givers of children are not detained unless they are individually assessed as posing an unacceptable risk to the Australian community and that risk cannot be met in a less restrictive way. Facilities in which children and their families are detained have the least restrictive environments possible. Children and their families are accommodated separately from unrelated adults. If a young person’s age is in doubt, a suitably qualified and trained interviewer with the consent of the young person and their guardian or other independent adult conducts an age assessment interview. Any age assessment process applies the principle of the benefit of the doubt and is Treaties: CRC 3, 9, 22, 37(b); ICCPR 23, 24(1); ICESCR 10. Interpretive instruments: UNRPJDL 2, 28; UNHCR Guidelines 9.2; UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment 6 [31](i); UNHCR Guidelines on Determining the Best Interests of the Child.