Recommendation 245
- Department of Home Affairs
The Australian Government is committed to a managed and equitable system of migration, consistent with our international obligations and respect for the human rights of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Australia respects and complies with its non‑refoulement obligations.
Australia engages actively with domestic and international organisations, including the UNHCR, the International Organization on Migration (IOM), and civil society organisations on a range of migration related matters. The Australian Government's engagement, through a combination of high-level and informal consultations, allows Australia to engage with these stakeholders on issues of concern, and work with them to pursue shared objectives. Australia considers all recommendations made by UN human rights treaty bodies, the UNHCR and Special Procedures.
It remains the Australian Government's position that children should not be held in immigration detention centres where possible, but should be accommodated in alternative places of detention or in the community under a residence determination. Australia will continue to develop and enhance its policies and procedures to support the protection of children in immigration pathways, promote their welfare, and treat their best interests as a primary consideration.
The Child Safeguarding Framework, is the blueprint for how the Department of Home Affairs continues to build and strengthen its policies, processes and systems to protect children in the delivery of all relevant departmental programmes and to maintain a child's wellbeing to assist them to meet age appropriate milestones.