Powerful proof that children don’t belong in detention.
“
“My father and brother were killed. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have to be,” an unaccompanied child adds.
These are not fictional statements. These are the real words from children living in immigration detention centres under the control of the Australian government.
The powerful accounts, which were first presented in last year’s The Forgotten Children report, feature in a stirring new video produced by student activist group Kidz4Kids.
Post continues after video:
Because child detainees’ faces cannot be shown, the clever video shows Australian children reading out detainees’ devastating descriptions of life in detention instead.
The resulting two-minute clip is so chilling, it has been shared more than 1,800 times online in just two days.
Australia currently holds about 800 children in closed immigration detention for indefinite periods, including 88 children on Nauru.
Between January 2013 and March 2014 alone, there were 233 assaults in detention involving children and 33 incidents of reported sexual assault — with the majority involving children. During the same period, 128 children who harmed themselves, The Forgotten Children report found.