SYDNEY - Australia's criminal justice system contains safeguards against arbitrary detention, yet serious concerns persist over the incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, children, and migrants, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said today.
"The gross overrepresentation of First Nations peoples in the prison population, the shocking detention of children as young as 10, and the punitive approach to migrants are human rights crises that continue to plague Australia," the Working Group said in a statement concluding an official visit to Australia.
The experts urged Australian authorities to engage in comprehensive reforms to reduce the imprisonment of First Nations peoples, raise the minimum age of detention to at least 14 years, and end the mandatory detention of persons with irregular visa status.
"First Nations people make up just 3.8 percent of Australia's population, yet they account for 35 percent of those imprisoned in the country."
The Working Group said Indigenous women are imprisoned at over 20 times the rate of non-Indigenous women, and over 30 indigenous persons have died in custody this year. During their visit, the experts heard reports that over-policing and racial profiling persist despite being prohibited.
"Addressing this crisis requires authorities to work in genuine partnership with First Nations communities to co-design solutions, from early intervention, including prior to contact with the criminal justice system, through to reintegration after detention-rather than relying on punitive approaches," they said.
They noted the rising remand population as the country's most pressing concern.
"42% of prisoners are unsentenced, and many are kept in detention due to disadvantage from discriminatory practices, homelessness and social conditions rather than risk to the community," the experts said.
The Working Group noted that the minimum age of criminal responsibility was 10 years old in several jurisdictions in the country.
"Keeping children as young as 10 in adult prisons is inhumane," the experts said.
They called for a complete ban on the use of spit hoods, restraint chairs, and solitary confinement against children - practices prohibited under international law.
The experts regret that they were denied access to detention facilities in the Northern Territory and to youth detention facilities in Western Australia. This undermined the Working Group's mandate and prevented the wider public in Australia from hearing concerns from these regions.
Criticising Australia's default use of migration detention, the experts said irregular entry to a country should not automatically lead to detention. "We were alarmed to learn that some of these detainees have been held for more than 15 years, and that the Government has resumed transfers of migrants to Nauru despite this practice having been found to violate international human rights obligations," they said.
The Working Group noted that recent restrictive bail reforms have dramatically increased the unsentenced population in detention. Chronic staff shortages result in prolonged solitary confinement in many Australian facilities, with prisoners denied access to fresh air, programmes, and legal consultations.
The Working Group nonetheless noted that Australia has many robust procedural protections in place to limit arbitrary detention and widespread provision of legal aid for persons detained, including a 24/7 legal advice service for First Nations people and justice reinvestment initiatives like Maranguka and specialist Indigenous sentencing courts.
"These are positive measures, but urgent action is needed to address the overincarceration of Indigenous peoples, the detention and mistreatment of children, and mandatory migration detention," the experts said.
A final report on the visit will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in September 2026.
