Submission Link : ASA Submission link
Submission Summary:
The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee conducted an inquiry into Australia’s youth justice and incarceration system. The submission outlines the intersection between youth justice and incarceration in Australia, highlighting that First Nations children, children with disabilities, and those who have experienced child maltreatment are at a higher risk of engaging in criminal activity, thus entering the youth justice system. The submission also explores the link between youth justice and modern slavery, suggesting that children who have experienced modern slavery may commit crimes due to desperation and destitution. Contributing factors include poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, and lack of educational opportunities or social support. Additionally, the submission identifies deficiencies in the current approaches to youth justice and incarceration across Australia. ASA asserts that the Australian Government holds the primary responsibility to ensure compliance with its international obligations regarding the administration of youth justice in the country.
The submission proceeds with proposals to adopt a national, child-rights-based approach to safeguard the rights of children at risk of or experiencing modern slavery, recommending the following:
- The development of robust, evidence-based prevention frameworks addressing the intersectional needs of children at risk of offending and experiencing modern slavery. This requires greater investment in data collection systems and research capabilities to build knowledge on specific risks and protective factors for children in the Australian context.
- The implementation of procedures focusing on children at the intersection of youth justice and modern slavery.
- Enhanced training on the risks and indicators of modern slavery for frontline workers.
- Information and advice provided to children should be adapted to their age and maturity, communicated in understandable language, and be gender and culture sensitive.
- Child-friendly materials containing relevant legal information should be made available and widely distributed, outlining children’s rights, existing complaint mechanisms, opportunities to seek reparation, and available child-specific support services.
- Children should have access to free, accessible, multidisciplinary, high-quality legal advice and representation by legal practitioners with specialist knowledge of children’s rights and related issues.
- Australia should establish a national compensation scheme for survivors.
- The enactment of uniform legislation across the States and Territories that recognises children as survivors of forced criminality and protects their rights and interests through the implementation of the non-punishment principle.
- Child-specific specialist services tailored to the type of exploitation experienced and the individual needs of victim-survivors are essential for their recovery and reintegration.