The Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) has welcomed the release of a new report from the Australian
Churches Refugee Taskforce that recommends the replacement of the Immigration Minister as the
guardian of unaccompanied asylum seeker children.
The report, “Protecting the Lonely Children”, outlines the major problems that unaccompanied minors
seeking protection in Australia face and proposes alternatives to current legislation and operational
arrangements.
RCOA chief executive officer Paul Power said the report highlighted a number of serious issues, the
most important being the conflict of interest faced by the Immigration Minister as guardian of
unaccompanied children who arrive in Australia as asylum seekers.
Please follow this link to view the article: Refugee Council of Australia calls for Independent guardian needed to protect interests of child asylum seekers