Indigenous children are 29 times more likely to be imprisoned than non-indigenous children and children as young as 10 are being held in adult watch houses, subjected to solitary confinement and even forced into spit hoods practices that amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment under international law. Australia must act now to end these torturous practices and raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14. (Write your ideas for this campaign below. Please keep in mind Amnesty International Australia's values and behaviours charter when commenting. Offensive posts will be removed.)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people are also over-represented in the child protection system. Much more needs to be done to support families in the first place, to support healing from colonisation, intergenerational trauma, and ongoing racism and discrimination. I'd like to see a wide range of support services set up in rural and remote communities that are focused on early intervention and prevention and police forces that are social work trained and highly trauma-informed working alongside communities.
This must change. It is such a violation of human rights and risks hardening these kids rather than dealing with their issues.
Publish fact sheets that show that youth crime is actually on the decline Australia wide. Relay success stories of diversion initiatives.
It is abhorrent and absolutely unacceptable to lock children up as young as 10. The age of criminal responsibility should be raised to at least 14, preferably 16.
Our differences in race, color, religious belief, and political ideology should bind us together not divide us. Children are the future of our country, that is why, their human capacity must be developed and nurtured for a better tomorrow.
We need a whole village to raise a child. Every one of us has the responsibility to share in rearing a child, beginning from the family in particular and the community the child is mingling with in general. Let us work all together to make our children a responsible citizen of this world.
This content is created by the open source Your Priorities citizen engagement platform designed by the non profit Citizens Foundation