Latest news with #AliceEdwards
ABC News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
UN report delivers scathing assessment of Australia's youth justice system
The United Nations has delivered a scathing assessment of Australia's youth justice system, accusing federal and state authorities of violating international obligations and harming Indigenous children in particular. A report released by the UN's Special Rapporteurs on Torture, and on Indigenous rights, says indigenous children continue to be jailed in disproportionate numbers, and suffer undue harm from laws and policies on youth crime and detention. It singles out Queensland's bill on "adult time for adult crimes" that would see adult penalties applied to children for a wide range of offences. Guest: Alice Edwards, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Producer: Anne Barker
ABC News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
United Nations representatives urge Queensland parliament to vote down 'adult crime, adult time' laws
Two human rights experts have penned a scathing assessment of the Queensland government's latest youth crime measures, labelling them "incompatible with basic child rights". State parliament is expected to pass the second tranche of the LNP's flagship "adult crime, adult time" laws this week. The first lot of crimes where juveniles are tried as adults and face heavier penalties — headlined by murder and manslaughter — were passed in December. If the amendment to the Making Queensland Safer laws is passed, young people found guilty of 20 further crimes will be tried as adults and face heavier penalties. The offences include rape, attempted murder, arson, torture, and sexual assault. In an open letter to Australian authorities, United Nations (UN) special rapporteur on torture, Alice Edwards, and UN special rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples, Albert Barume, said they had significant concerns about the next round of changes. "Many new or proposed state laws, including Queensland's Making Queensland Safer (Adult Crime, Adult Time) Amendment Bill, are incompatible with basic child rights. "If passed, the Queensland bill would result in additional adult penalties being applied to children for a wide range of offences. The pair said the approach to youth crime was in "crisis nationwide". "Children are suffering undue harm to their safety and wellbeing, as well as to their educational and life prospects as a result of short-sighted approaches to youth criminality and detention," the open letter said. The experts urged a "child-centred approach" to the issue, noting the age of criminal responsibility in Queensland and many states and territories was 10, younger than "most other industrialised countries". "The first goal should always be keeping children out of prison," they wrote. "We are extremely concerned that the system is creating a future underclass of Australians." The UN has repeatedly criticised the Queensland government's laws, with Ann Skelton — the chair of the Committee on the Rights of the Child — noting in December that they showed a "flagrant disregard" for children's rights. In response to further criticism from the organisation last month, Premier David Crisafulli issued a stinging rebuke in parliament. "I say to the United Nations with the greatest respect that this place will govern its laws, this place will determine how we keep Queenslanders safe, and this place will be accountable to Queenslanders, not United Nations boffins," he said. The Labor opposition voted in support of the initial changes and said it would support the new inclusions.
