Aussie court allows detention of children who seek asylum

Australia's High Court backed the government's tough policy on illegal immigrants yesterday by overturning a lower court decision to free five children from a detention center for asylum seekers.

In a landmark ruling, the High Court unanimously allowed an appeal by the immigration ministry against the release last year of the five siblings from a South Australian detention center on orders of the country's Family Court.

The Family Court ruled in June that the government's policy of indefinitely detaining child asylum seekers violated UN conventions on the rights of children and it ordered the release of the siblings, who were freed in August.

The government immediately appealed the ruling, which could have led to the release of more than 100 other children from detention centers.

The High Court yesterday ruled that the Family Court did not have the jurisdiction either to free the five or issue orders concerning the general welfare of children held in immigration detention.

The judges agreed with the immigration ministry that Australia's Migrant Act, which provides for the mandatory detention of illegal non citizens, included children.

"So far as Australian law was concerned, the respondent children were therefore lawfully detained," their judgment said.

Lawyers for the family of the five children at the center of the court case said they would seek a federal court injunction against their return to detention.

"We're most certainly concerned that the federal government will grab these children and re-detain them. We've certainly been put under that impression from what's been said to us," attorney Jeremy Moore said.

He said the matter would be heard today in the Federal Court in the South Australian capital Adelaide.

The five children, two boys and three girls aged seven to 12, have been living in Adelaide under the care of a Catholic relief group. Their identities cannot be revealed for legal reasons.

The parents of the children, who are believed to be either Afghan or Pakistani, are both in detention.

Acting Immigration Minister Gary Hardgrave said the government would leave the children with their caregivers for now, but did not exclude the possibility of ordering them back into detention.

"The current arrangements for the particular children will remain in place for the time being," he said.

The conservative government of Prime Minister John Howard has detained hundreds of asylum-seekers of all ages in remote camps in Australia and the Pacific as part of a tough policy initiated in 2001 to discourage illegal immigration.

Under the policy all asylum-seekers face mandatory detention pending legal reviews of their status and eventual deportation.

The practice has been repeatedly condemned by the UN and human rights groups, notably over its inclusion of children.