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In its annual assessment of human rights practices in more than 100 countries last year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) drew attention to Australia's reversals of the rights of children in its criminal justice system.

HRW said in its  that Queensland and Western Australia have been “detaining children in facilities designed for adults”, while the Northern Territory government  from 12 years to 10.

It said while Australia generally protects citizens’ rights, its record “is marred by some key human rights concerns”, which include “its treatment of children in the criminal justice system”.

Queensland launched its youth crackdown in 2023 when, under a Labor government, it twice suspended its Human Rights Act 2019 to pass a  law and to ensure it could detain kids in adult watch houses.

Last year, the new Northern Territory Country Liberal government lifted a ban on spit hoods being used on kids and adults, and lowered the age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 10.

 and Victoria also launched youth crime crackdowns, and in recent days South Australia has also begun decrying a .

�ճ����, published on January 21, states that rights violations have taken place  in the youth justice system in WA. It notes that the youth crime crackdown in Australia disproportionately targets Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

“On any given day, about 700 children ages 10 to 17 are detained or imprisoned across Australia,” World Report 2025 said. “First Nations children make up approximately 60 percent of the prison population.”

“Most Australian states maintain an age of criminal responsibility below the UN recommended minimum of at least 14 years,” it said. “In New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory, and Western Australia, children as young as 10 can be held criminally responsible and incarcerated.”

The age of criminal responsibility is determined by when a child is deemed to have reached a stage of development that means they are capable of committing a crime and, therefore, punishable for it.

The UN recommends that age be 14 years, which is in line with the research on child development.

Australia has kept it at the distinctly low age of 10 years.

HRW mentioned that Victoria decided not to raise the age from 10 to 14, but only to 12 last August, where it now sits. Last year, the NT lowered the age from 12, back to 10.

It criticised Queensland for locking up kids in adult watch houses, where they are often detained for weeks on end, despite the cells only being designed for short-term use.

“In Western Australia, authorities detained children in Unit 18, a wing of the maximum-security Casuarina Prison,” the HRW said.

“In September, a 17-year-old boy died by suicide in Banksia Hill Detention Centre in Western Australia. This child had previously been held in Unit 18, where he reportedly endured ‘routine solitary confinement’.”

NSW Labor responded to a regional last March by introducing laws to ensure that 14- to 17-year-olds caught committing serious motor theft and  while on conditional release are placed on remand.

A new offence of “performance” crime ensures that anyone talking about their misdemeanors online will have up to two more years added to their time in jail.

The Victorian Labor government has implemented  that means that youths who commit a range of serious  will be refused bail.

�ճ����has reinstated the use of potentially lethal spit hoods in watch houses for youths. It has also reinstated youth breach of bail laws and a new regime of presumption against bail regime for youths and adults. The NT child prisoner population comprises at least 90% Aboriginal kids.

Its “Making Queensland Safer” laws, enacted in December, include measures to ensure youths serve the same time in jail as adults for certain crimes. The government also removed the measures for kids to serve time in the community.

The HRW report pointed to a mid-2024 report by Anne Hollonds which said the treatment of children in detention is one of the country’s most urgent human rights issues.

Despite official investigations and international bodies repeatedly raising the need for reform, Australian governments have gone backwards.

Australia’s child prisons came to global attention in mid-2016 after the ABC’s ” revealed adult “youth justice officers” in Darwin’s former Don Dale youth jail torturing and tear gassing child detainees.

 in June 2023 were First Nations children. This is despite First Nations youths aged 10 to 17 only making up 5.7% of the general population.

[Paul Gregoire writes for , where this article was first published.]