Children in Detention and the Common Good Children in detention. Those very words are probably enough to bring sadness to many people, regardless of how or why the detention came about. Despite this, many Australians hold views about adult asylum seekers that actually leads to the detention of children. Since 1992 it has been Australia’s policy that all non-citizens who arrive in Australia without a valid visa will be held in detention (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2015). As of June 2015, the Australian Government was holding 215 children in closed detention and 642 in community detention (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2015). At first sight this could seem to be a simple issue. Most people would agree that holding children in
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This principle holds that we all have a duty to treat each and every person with respect because their life is sacred. No one should ever be exploited (Massaro, 2000). The solution put forward by the Australian Human Rights commission is probably the closest to promoting this principle. They want to get the children out of detention centres and into the community as quickly as possible. Most people would probably agree that this would be a lot more respectful to the children than to keep them locked away in detention. Mr. Abbott, however, might argue that the Australian Human Rights Commission is not promoting human as he believes they are exploiting the children by using them for a political agenda. The principle of human dignity does not really come into either Mr. Abbott’s or the Australian public’s perspective. Mr. Abbott’s solution is to stop the boats. Although this has reduced the number of children in detention in a roundabout way, he does not consider whether locking children in detention denying them the basic dignity they deserve. The same could be said of the perspective that is prevalent among the Australian public. The focus is not about the common good, but rather, what is the most convenient and comfortable for
This principle holds that we all have a duty to treat each and every person with respect because their life is sacred. No one should ever be exploited (Massaro, 2000). The solution put forward by the Australian Human Rights commission is probably the closest to promoting this principle. They want to get the children out of detention centres and into the community as quickly as possible. Most people would probably agree that this would be a lot more respectful to the children than to keep them locked away in detention. Mr. Abbott, however, might argue that the Australian Human Rights Commission is not promoting human as he believes they are exploiting the children by using them for a political agenda. The principle of human dignity does not really come into either Mr. Abbott’s or the Australian public’s perspective. Mr. Abbott’s solution is to stop the boats. Although this has reduced the number of children in detention in a roundabout way, he does not consider whether locking children in detention denying them the basic dignity they deserve. The same could be said of the perspective that is prevalent among the Australian public. The focus is not about the common good, but rather, what is the most convenient and comfortable for