Australia is violating human rights: UN Report

The Socialist Bulletin Staff - 13/12/2025

THE United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has today released a report into the detention facilities across Australia, and has found that the government is violating the human rights of those in detention.

In a world-first, the Working Group, who have been to several countries plagued by war and instability, was denied access to an entire region's prison system, with the Northern Territory government, led by the Country Liberal Party, refusing the United Nations Working Group entry.

"In over 30 years of UN detention monitoring worldwide this is the first time an entire region of the country had completely refused co-operation with our working group,", Ganna Yudkivska, Chair of the Working Group, said of the Northern Territory decision.

This is the second time that a government in Australia has caused issues with the WGAD, with the 2023 visit being the second one in the world - after one in Rwanda - to be terminated by the UN, after the Working Group was refused access to some facilities in Queensland and New South Wales.

The WGAD was scathing about the data they could gather, indicating that they believed that the Australian government was violating the human rights of detainees.

From publicly-available information, the Working Group was able to deduce that the situation in prisons in the Northern Territory is comparable to countries "in situations of crisis, such as after a hurricane of severe flooding", and is not how a justice facility should operate.

The Working Group also stated that the government policy to force asylum seekers into detention facilities lies in violation of human rights treaties that the Federal government voluntarily signed.

The WGAD also stated that the treatment of children in custody, and the implementation of so-called "Adult Crime Adult Time" legislation in Victoria and Queensland, is a "stain on [our] reputation"