"As the Australian Government’s self-imposed deadline to move the majority of children out of detention approaches, Amnesty International continues to call for all children to be removed from immigration detention. The detention conditions in which many children continue to be kept in are simply inappropriate.

Amnesty International has witnessed the conditions in which many children are detained - these include being held behind barbed wire with guards present 24 hours a day. These are children that are fleeing war and violence and who need our help and protection.

We acknowledge the Government’s recent efforts to move asylum seeker children into the community – however, these children should never have been detained in the first place.The Government must make a priority of moving all children and other vulnerable asylum seekers into the community, and allocate the resources to make this happen.

Amnesty International is especially concerned about the children currently in detention who face being deported to Malaysia under the proposed refugee swap. To make matters worse, children are among those asylum seekers waiting in limbo to see if they will be sent to Malaysia.

The conditions faced by refugees in Malaysia have been documented in horrifying detail by Amnesty International reports. Australians are compassionate people and do not wish to send families into this highly vulnerable situation – so why is the Government pushing ahead with this inhumane Malaysia deal?"

Author: Alex Pagliaro Amnesty International