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Letter: Child prisoners in Australia

Nearly one hundred of the world’s most impoverished children are incarcerated, whether on remand or already sentenced, in Australian prisons

The Jakarta Post
Wed, September 7, 2011

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Letter: Child prisoners in Australia

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early one hundred of the world’s most impoverished children are incarcerated, whether on remand or already sentenced, in Australian prisons. The majority of these children are being detained in Western Australian prisons intended for adults.

It has been confirmed to me by various authorities, and by an Indonesian vice consul, that at least 16 of the age-disputed prisoners are in Hakea Correctional facility, a maximum security prison which I have visited on a number of occasions over the years. There may be up to 40 age-disputed prisoners in Western Australian adult prisons.

On July 20, I spoke in person to Prime Minister Julia Gillard about this issue: of children being incarcerated in Australian adult prisons (an issue about which she has long known), as we were surrounded by various news media. As we held our handshake, our smiles froze into a startled lingering silence, as if she expected a full-blown scandal to erupt; however; a scandal-in-waiting it remains.

After many months of behind-the-scenes campaigning by people like me, and various lawyers throughout the country, some children have now been released.

We have also conducted some high profile campaigning for those whom we believe to be children, such as Hadi Kurniawan, who is still being held in Hakea; Ardi in Brisbane; and three boys from Brisbane’s Arthur Gorrie Prison, who were bailed and then released after charges were dropped by the Queensland Commonwealth Prosecutors.

However, the majority of age-disputed prisoners continue to languish, while very little remedy has been delivered.

The ages of these children are disputed by the Australian Federal Police and, in turn, by the Commonwealth; but their arguments are based solely on the results of wrist-bone age-scans.

The only remedy offered was piecemeal and insulting, and that was from Home Minister Brendan O’Connor, who declared that the wrist-bone age-scans would be coupled with dental x-rays so as to improve the determination of the subjects’ ages. However, our courts, in terms of the rule of law, work according to the principle of proving something “beyond reasonable doubt”. It appears, however, that this has been disregarded by most of the magistrates in these cases.

Child commissioners worldwide, radiologists and pediatric endocrinologists have discredited this approach.

I am not aware of anyone who has ever claimed to be a minor but who has subsequently been proven to have “lied”. Indeed, in these cases, the difficulties facing the courts is that they do not consider that there has been adequate evidence placed before them to displace the presumption of evidence from the wrist-bone age-scan. We are all aware of a number of children, some as young as 14, who have spent a year in an adult jail and, having been proved to be minors, they were released.

If in time it is proved that a few of them have falsely stated that they were minors, the majority will still be proven to be children. Therefore, let us err on the side of caution so that no-one is subjected to various injustices. Let us amend our policies and laws in such a way that we get this right. The burden of proof in terms of ascertaining age beyond a reasonable doubt must be with the Commonwealth.

I hope to work with various bodies to put together a complete register of the age-disputed cases Australia-wide, and for many of us to travel to Indonesia to aggregate the certified evidence admissible in our courts, so as to expedite the release of children from our adult prisons. The question remains, however: Should we have been placed in this position to do so?

Gerry Georgatos
Bridgetown, Western Australia

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