Mandatory detention of asylum-seekers like child abuse, AMA tells inquiry

ASYLUM-seekers as young as nine are being admitted to hospital for self-harm, an inquiry into detention has been told.

ASYLUM-seekers as young as nine are being admitted to hospital for self-harm, an inquiry into the nation's detention network has been told.

The Australian Medical Association today told the joint select committee into Australia's detention network it has grave concerns for the mental welfare of child asylum-seekers and believes mandatory detention is akin to child abuse.

The AMA's Peter Morris said doctors had dealt with a recent case in Darwin of a nine-year-old detainee admitted to hospital.

“We are aware of a nine-year-old child who was recently admitted for trying to commit suicide,” Dr Morris said.

“The emergency department has also reported large numbers of adults with mental health problems manifesting in self-harm.”

Dr Morris told the committee up to 33 per cent of children in detention were affected by depression, which was “completely different to what you see in the general public”.

He said AMA members were frustrated that asylum-seekers were “being treated so poorly in what is avoidable self-harm” and recommended children spend no more than three days in detention, with a 30-day limit for adults.

“We agree that detention of asylum-seeker children and their families is a form of child abuse,” Dr Morris said.

“We are basically just agreeing with what experts are saying in their assessments of this.”

“Mandatory detention is medically harmful, violates human rights, has no known beneficial effects and is a waste of money,”

The director of medical services at the Royal Darwin Hospital, Sara Watson, told the inquiry that last financial year there were 33 recorded discharges from the hospital related to children up to the age of 16. These included, but were not limited to, self-harm cases.

Currently there are 795 children in the detention network, including those in community placements. Of these, 282 are unaccompanied, 688 are housed in mainland facilities and 107 are on Christmas Island.