Almost all of the child asylum seekers inside the Christmas Island immigration detention centre are reportedly sick and distressed, with many wetting the bed and some developing severe speech impediments and having flashbacks.

Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs has recounted her inspection of the centre last week as part of a national inquiry into the mandatory detention of children seeking asylum in Australia.

Professor Triggs says conditions have worsened markedly since her last visit four months ago.

There are 1,102 asylum seekers in the centre, including 174 children, and Professor Triggs says she and her team interviewed hundreds of detainees over three days.

"Almost all of them, including the adults, were coughing, were sick, were depressed, unable to communicate, were weak," she told AM.

"Some of them [are] not leaving their cabins, are not eating."

Professor Triggs was accompanied by leading paediatrician Professor Elizabeth Elliott.

"We have seen children who have become sad, they are crying all the time," Dr Elliott said.

"They have developed bed wetting and poor sleeping. Some are refusing to eat.

"We saw several children, which is quite distressing, who had developed severe speech impediments.

"They were having flashbacks and nightmares."

Christmas Island 'no place for young children'

There are almost half the number of children at the centre compared to the last Human Rights Commission visit in March, but Professor Elliott says that is still too many under current conditions.

"Christmas Island is no place for young children," she said.

Professor Triggs says there is an unprecedented rate of self-harm amongst children.

She says 128 cases have been reported in the last 15 reporting months.

What we witnessed really was, with this long duration of detention to one extent of another, people are just reaching the end of the tether. They have had enough.
Dr Elizabeth Elliott
"The desperation is palpable ... and the boredom of the children with no school, nothing to do," Professor Triggs said.

"It is very well known, as a matter of research, that children decline much more rapidly than their parents do.

"There is no eye contact with some of them."

Professor Elliott says she was especially concerned about the unaccompanied minors.

"[There were] boys aged 14 to 17 who had seen violence such as shooting and abduction of relatives at home and were now in the detention centre and really felt that they had no future," she said.

Mothers reported to the Human Rights Commission delegation that their children were constantly sick and developmentally delayed.

The women reported being afraid to put babies on the ground for fear of dirt, stones and animals.

Detainees 'reaching the end of the tether'

Professor Elliott says Christmas Island is a poor environment for raising young children.

"Mothers complain that there is just nowhere for them to put their children down to crawl and learn to walk and there is very limited space within their own cabins for children to move about," she said.

Professor Triggs says the mothers are struggling themselves.


AUDIO: Gillian Triggs speaks with AM (AM)
Her inspection took place while a small group of the female detainees, including mothers, were on official watch after threatening self-harm.

"When we were there, and I can speak very categorically about this, there were 13 women on high-level risk monitoring for suicide, 10 of them requiring 24-hour watch," she said.

Christmas Island has a visiting adult psychiatrist and a visiting child and adolescent psychiatrist.

Of the detainees they spoke to, Professor Elliott says all of them had some sort of mental health problem.

"What we witnessed really was, with this long duration of detention to one extent of another, people are just reaching the end of the tether," Professor Elliott told RN Breakfast.

"They have had enough."

Government responds to request for education

There is one hope, according to Professor Triggs - the children will soon be able to go to school.

Professor Triggs says the Government has responded to her request for education for the children.

More stories about asylum seekers

Fact file: Why the fate of 153 asylum seekers is in the hands of the High Court
Number of women on self-harm watch at Christmas Island rises
Mothers' self-harm won't influence asylum policy, Abbott says
Asylum seekers may be held at sea for weeks if High Court hears case
Workers to be forced to give evidence at detention inquiry
She says teachers should be on the island within a couple of weeks.

"That is probably the most important ray of light in the current situation," Professor Triggs said.

"They will be able to have a routine to their days.

"Their parents will have the routine of getting them to school and making sure their homework is done."

Professor Triggs hopes the school will transform life within the camp, but says she wants more from the Federal Government.

"It does not take away from the fact that they (the asylum seekers) are still sitting in a legal limbo with no sense of a future and no sense that they are going to be sent anywhere that is safe," she said.

"The Government is stripping away their personal dignity because they can't even cling onto the fact that they are legally recognised as a refugee within the global community."

The inquiry into children in Australian immigration detention is expected to report to the Government before the end of the year.

They're terrible parents, putting their kids through such an ordeal. Shame on them!

if they were such good parents they would have stopped in any of the 15 countries they passed thru to get where they are.

scumbags.

____ wrote on Jul 24^th, 2014 at 12:22pm:


you don't get to Christmas IS from Afghanistan by transporter pad.

bogarde73 wrote on Jul 24^th, 2014 at 12:27pm:



Agree in part. Glade you are awakening to your previous errors in thinking. Well done.

____ wrote on Jul 24^th, 2014 at 12:39pm:


and naturally sarcasm eludes your grad 5 educated mind.

____ wrote on Jul 24^th, 2014 at 11:07am:


This takes me right back to my days in boarding school ... 

Apparently the Human Rights people lost the address and never made it to the school to release us from our oppression. 

But then again, we were only White Anglo-Saxon Protestant boys, so there weren't any Brownie points to be had for rescuing us ...

____ wrote on Jul 24^th, 2014 at 1:10pm:


They've been coached by the pro bono lawyers and the pinkoes to say these things as all part of softening up the government's resolve.

____ wrote on Jul 24^th, 2014 at 1:10pm:


I don't know of any 'abuse' other than taking care of a situation that these kids' parents put them in.