“ FREE THEM ”
June 10 Declaration

We mark the passing of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s deadline for children and their parents to be released from immigration detention.

We apologise to the children and their families who have suffered
in our immigration detention centres, in our name.

On June 10, 2004, 162 children remain in immigration detention. 

These children have waited long enough.

Free them all, and free them now.

We call on current and future Australian governments to implement all recommendations of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s report of its National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention.

Recommendation 1
Children in immigration detention centres and residential housing projects as at the date of the tabling of this report should be released with their parents, as soon as possible, but no later than four weeks after tabling.  (June 10, 2004)

Recommendation 2
Australia's immigration detention laws should be amended, as a matter of urgency, to comply with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Recommendation 3
An independent guardian should be appointed for unaccompanied children and they should receive appropriate support.  

Recommendation 4
Minimum standards of treatment for children in immigration detention should be codified in legislation.

Recommendation 5
There should be a review of the impact on children of legislation that creates 'excised offshore places' and the 'Pacific Solution'.