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

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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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Australia’s prison and detention practices are inhuman, degrading and in some cases may amount to torture, a United Nations report has found. The UN has delivered a scathing assessment of
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The United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (‘SPT’) visited Australia in October 2022 to investigate Australia’s compliance with the Optional
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PIAC is investigating a potential class action lawsuit on behalf of people who have been unlawfully handcuffed in immigration detention. Current and former detainees who were handcuffed while in immigration
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In my career as a lawyer and advocate, I have supported detainees whose social justice cases — some of the worst in the country — outline extremely distressing and difficult

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