UN Complaint About Youth Justice System
In April 2025, Associate Professor Hannah McGlade and Professor Megan Davis made an urgent submission to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) about the human rights violations against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children that result from Australia’s youth justice policies. The complaint was supported by prominent members of the legal and academic community, including the Human Rights Legal Centre. This page outlines the key points made in the complaint.
CERD
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is the UN body of experts that monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination by countries that are parties to the Convention.
The Convention entered into force in 1969 and requires parties to take measures to combat racial discrimination, including:
- to condemn racial discrimination and to take steps to eliminate it.
- to guarantee that all people, regardless of race, are equal before the law.
- to assure effective protection against racial discrimination.
Australia ratified the Convention in 1975.
What the complaint argues
The complaint argues that Australia’s youth justice policies disproportionately impact and harm Indigenous children and breach the CERD and other UN treaties. This occurs through the mass incarceration of Indigenous children, a situation that the government maintains and exacerbates.
The complaint argues the following points:
1. There is a significant and persistent pattern of racial discrimination.
The complaint argues that this is evidenced in the higher number of Indigenous children arrested, charged, refused bail and imprisoned across all states and territories and the existence of laws and policies that disproportionately harm Indigenous children. It is further demonstrated by the fact that successive governments have failed to act to address these issues, despite their being raised repeatedly for decades.
2. New discriminatory legislation is still being adopted.
The complaint argues that rather than taking action to address inequality, many states and territories are continuing to adopt new legislation that is incompatible with our international human rights obligations. These include expanding police powers and toughening bail laws. For example, Queensland’s ‘Adult crime, adult time’ laws subject children found guilty of serious offence to adult mandatory minimum penalties, and Victoria and the NT recently abolished the principle that remand of a child is a last resort.
3. Segregation policies and exclusion from culture
The report argued that Indigenous children in detention are frequently held in separate units or under isolation-like conditions and are regularly denied access to cultural practices, family and community connection. For example, in Don Dale Detention Centre in the NT, Indigenous children are held for up to 23 hours a day in isolation cells.
Children who are detained are often kept far from home, with Indigenous children sometimes held in detention centres hundreds of kilometres from their communities, making visits and cultural engagement difficult. Many are subjected to degrading practices like strip searches and the use of spit hoods. This amounts to a systemic disregard for Indigenous culture in the youth justice system.
4. Lack of an adequate legislative framework prohibiting racial discrimination
The submission argued that Australia’s legal framework with regards to racial discrimination is weak and inconsistent and fails to protect Indigenous people from racial discrimination in a meaningful way.
The Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act contains exemptions and allows the federal government to pass laws that disproportionately impact Indigenous people. Anti-discrimination protections vary between jurisdictions and are difficult for children to access.
What the complaint asks for
The complaint asks for immediate intervention under CERD’s Early Warning and Urgent Action procedure, recognizing the situation as a crisis. It asks CERD to hold Australia accountable internationally and to press for independent monitoring mechanisms to protect the rights of Indigenous children.
It calls on the Australian government to:
- raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14
- repeal or amend discriminatory laws including mandatory sentencing and reinstate the principle that detention of children is a last resort
- end harmful practices such as solitary confinement and the use of spit hoods in youth detention
- guarantee cultural rights by ensuring children can maintain connection with family, community, and culture while in custody.
- develop a national legislative framework that fully prohibits racial discrimination and establishes strong accountability mechanisms.
- implement past recommendations such as those of the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
Responses to the complaint
The complaint has been welcomed by the community and legal sectors. The federal government has not officially responded.
If you require legal advice or representation in any legal matter, please contact Go To Court Lawyers.
Fernanda Dahlstrom is a writer, editor and lawyer. She holds a Bachelor of Laws (Latrobe University), a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice (College of Law), a Bachelor of Arts (The University of Melbourne) and a Master of Arts (Deakin University). Fernanda practised law for eight years, working in criminal law, child protection and domestic violence law in the Northern Territory, and in family law in Queensland.
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