Asylum seeker rights

People locked up in immigration detention deserve to be treated humanely and with dignity. 

But Australia’s immigration detention regime is unnecessarily cruel. Mandatory and prolonged detention policies condemn people who are seeking asylum to years behind razor wire, where they are subject to harsh and inhumane treatment. These policies must end.

Our asylum seeker rights project protects the fundamental human rights of people in detention. We do this by demanding the delivery of essential healthcare at a standard equal to that available in the community and challenging some of the worst conditions and practices of detention like the arbitrary and excessive use of handcuffs and other restraints.

Our test cases expose unlawful practices, unfair policies and gaps in the legal system that cause people harm. Our strategic advocacy holds the Commonwealth and its contractors accountable to their domestic and international legal obligations and ensures their conduct is scrutinised, within Australia and internationally.

News and resources

News
Principal Solicitor, Jonathan Hall Spence discusses Serco's failures in its 15 year tenure operating Australian immigration detention systems
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Senior Solicitor, Grace Gooley discusses the need for major reform in immigration detention centres as Serco loses 15-year contract.
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Serco's time running immigration detention has been controversial, but Senior Solicitor Grace Gooley explains that reform needs to go beyond a change of contractor
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Under Serco’s 15-year watch, immigration detention facilities have been plagued by harmful and inhumane treatment of people detained. 
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Principal Solicitor Jonathan Hall Spence provided comments about border force risk assessment to the Guardian.
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Principal Solicitor, Jonathan Hall Spence, commented on an unjust risk assessment tool to the Guardian.

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