Australia's human rights watchdog has said conditions at a remote detention center for asylum seekers breach international conventions governing the welfare of children.
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission made the assessment based on a recent visit to the controversial Woomera detention center, where hundreds of asylum seekers staged a two week hunger strike to protest conditions and delays in processing their asylum applications. Negotiators were able to end the strike last week.
Human Rights Commissioner Sev Ozdowski noted that several children had sewn their lips together during the crisis, and some had slashed themselves with blades.
He said the overall atmosphere at the camp was harmful to children, and concluded that conditions at Woomera breached the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.