A report by the United Nations has found Australia is breaching the international convention against torture in its treatment of some asylum seekers.
The report has been prepared by the UN’s special rapporteur on torture, Professor Juan Mendez, and is being tabled in Geneva today at the UN Human Rights Council.
Professor Mendez said Australia had failed to provide adequate detention conditions and that it should end the detention of children.
His report also said Australia should put a stop to the escalating violence on Manus Island.
Read more here: Detainees are blockading the Manus Island detention centre
Human Rights Law Centre director Daniel Webb said Australia was breaching the convention against torture it signed years ago.
“Now Australia is being found to breach that convention to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment,” he said.
Mr Webb said the report was a condemnation of Australia’s indefinite detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island and the conditions there.
“It is basically Australia being named and shamed on the world stage as a country that fails to comply with the convention against torture, and I think that ought to be a real wake-up call,” he said.
The Federal Government has been contacted for comment.
A version of this post originally appeared on ABC News and has been republished with permission.
Read more: The Forgotten Children report highlights the horrific effect of keeping children in detention.
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