Australia’s detention of child asylum seekers has harmed their health

Children who were locked in Australia’s immigration detention centres in the past decade have high rates of mental health conditions, developmental concerns and nutritional deficiencies, according to the most comprehensive study of their health.

“We’d like policy-makers to recognise that detention is harmful for children and they should not be detained under any circumstances,” says Shidan Tosif at the Immigrant Health Service at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, Australia, who led the study.

Australia has a policy of detaining all asylum seekers who arrive without a valid visa while their claims are reviewed. Adults are mostly housed in high-security immigration detention centres. Under Australian law, children should only be held in these facilities as a last resort and should preferably be detained in community housing with their families.

However, from 2012, Australia began keeping hundreds of children in detention centres for long periods, often for years, after there was a surge in asylum seekers arriving by boat. These included children accompanied by families and those travelling on their own.

Tosif and his colleagues reviewed the medical records of 239 of these children who were referred to his hospital’s Immigrant Health Service, which provides medical and mental health care to asylum seekers and refugees. The children attended the service between 2012 and 2021, either while they were still in detention, which required them to be brought in by guards, or after they were released.

The children came from 15 countries, the most common being Iran. The average time they spent in detention was seven months for those held in facilities on Australia’s mainland and more than four years for those held in offshore detention centres on Nauru in Micronesia and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.

Overall, 60 per cent of the children had a nutritional deficiency such as low iron or vitamin D. None received any routine childhood vaccines in detention, meaning 71 per cent were behind in their immunisation schedules. One-fifth also had untreated latent tuberculosis.

Three-quarters of the children had developmental differences, including learning difficulties or autism, and 62 per cent had mental health problems, including anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. This was more than four times higher than the rate of mental disorders in Australian children. Many also experienced nightmares and 10 per cent had self-harmed.

This finding is consistent with anecdotal reports from a small number of paediatricians who have been allowed to visit Australia’s immigration detention centres.

David Isaacs at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead in Sydney, for example, described a 6-year-old girl who had attempted to kill herself and a 15-year-old boy who had self-harmed, after he visited the Nauru detention centre in 2014.

Elizabeth Elliott and Hasantha Gunasekera, also at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, visited a detention centre in Australia’s Northern Territory in 2015 and told the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) that the detained children were among the most traumatised they had ever seen, with many talking openly about suicide.

Many of the children had already experienced trauma before coming to Australia, but locking them in detention centres harmed them further because of the poor living conditions and restrictions on their movement, education and play, says Tosif. The AHRC described detained families living in tents surrounded by tall, wire fences and a child playing with cockroaches because he had no toys.

Adding to the problem was the profound uncertainty the children and their families felt because they didn’t know how long they would be detained for or where they would be taken next, says Tosif.

The number of children held in Australian immigration detention centres peaked at almost 2000 in July 2013. Since late 2014, the government has gradually moved children out of these centres, with the last two released in 2021.

The released children were initially moved to community detention or given temporary visas, which “continued the uncertainty”, says Tosif. However, since February this year, some have been able to apply for permanent visas.

To prevent children from being held in prolonged detention again, Rebecca Eckard at the Refugee Council of Australia, an independent advocacy organisation, says the government should legislate so children can be held in detention centres for no longer than 72 hours before they must be moved to community detention. “At the moment, there’s nothing to stop this government or any future government from detaining children for long periods if there’s another increase in people arriving by air or sea without a visa,” she says.

A spokesperson at the Australian Department of Home Affairs told New Scientist that the Australian government is “committed to keeping children out of immigration detention centres” and “has zero tolerance for any form of abuse, neglect, maltreatment or exploitation involving children”.

Tosif says some children who experienced locked detention will have lasting health consequences. “We do find if they get a permanent visa, it really improves their outlook on life, but issues can surface later on after childhood trauma,” he says. “That is something we’re monitoring.”

Need a listening ear? UK Samaritans: 116123; US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1 800 273 8255; hotlines in other countries.