Australia's immigration detention was harmful for children and must not be repeated

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-03-10 10:20

Australia; VIC

DIAC images, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Australian immigration detention policies should not be repeated, and they were unsafe and harmful for children, according to an Australian study which found 3 out of 5 children in immigration detention had nutritional deficiencies and 3 in 4 had developmental concerns. The study found that most children in the Nauru/Manus Island cohort had mental health issues, and most also had parents with mental illness, which the authors say reflects the prolonged duration of detention and amplification of risks in the Regional Processing Centre conditions.

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Journal/
conference: PLOS ONE

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI), The University of Melbourne, Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne

Funder: The authors received no specific funding for this work.

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