Queensland Suspends Human Rights Act To Detain Children

The government of Queensland, Australia, has once again suspended its Human Rights Act, raising concerns among human rights experts as it seeks to detain more children, including those as young as 10, in police watch houses.

This drastic measure is in response to changes in youth justice laws, including incarceration for youths who breach bail conditions, leading to a shortage of space in designated youth detention centers.

The amended bail laws, introduced earlier this year, necessitated the suspension of the Human Rights Act, which was introduced in 2019 to protect children from being detained in adult prisons.

The rise in youth detention has alarmed human rights advocates, as it impacts the most vulnerable members of society.

Queensland Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougall described Australia’s human rights protections as “very fragile,” as there are no nationwide laws in place. While some states and territories have legislated human rights protections, they are not constitutionally entrenched and can be overridden by parliament.

Australia witnessed a tragic milestone in 2021 when drug overdoses claimed the lives of over 100,000 people across the country for the first time.

More than two-thirds of these deaths were attributed to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. Fentanyl, which is 50 times more potent than heroin, is a pharmaceutical drug used to treat severe pain but is also illegally manufactured and sold by criminal gangs, with a significant portion entering the U.S. from Mexico via chemicals sourced from China.

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), recently released a study highlighting the dramatic impact of illicitly manufactured fentanyl on overdose deaths in the U.S.

The rise of fentanyl-related fatalities was first observed in 2015 and has since spread across the country, affecting regions that were previously insulated from its impact.

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The study also raises concerns about the growing trend of deaths resulting from the use of fentanyl in combination with stimulant drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine.

While the opioid crisis has often been portrayed as a “white problem,” the study reveals that African Americans are dying from this combination of substances at higher rates across age groups and geographic regions.

These alarming trends raise critical questions about the root causes of substance use, access to healthcare, and disparities in awareness campaigns that often overlook the experiences of minority communities.

In response, advocates are calling for alternative solutions to address children’s behavior without subjecting them to incarceration and its potential long-term consequences.