Table 3 F.K.A.G et al. v Australia [111, 112]

Decision by UN Human Rights Committee, established by the ICCPR; 20 August 2013

Facts: Thirty-seven Sri Lankan citizens arrived by boat and sought asylum were held in Australian immigration detention facilities, including excised to offshore detention locations. The claimants alleged the prolonged detention resulted in risks to their physical and mental health, and evidence of suicide attempts and inadequate medical treatment was tendered. The Australian government submitted that detention centres offered medical care comparable to that available to the general public, including mental health support services, and therefore there was not a violation of the claimant’s right to health, argued on the basis of Article 7 (right not to face torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment) and Article 10(1) (failure to treat the detainees humanely and with respect for human dignity) of the ICCPR.

Findings: The UN Human Rights Committee did not address the conditions of detention under Article 10(1) ICCPR. Instead, the Committee found although the Australian government provided access to medical treatment in detention facilities, Article 7 ICCPR with respect to the claimants had been violated. The Committee found medical services were “insufficient to rectify the negative impacts of prolonged detention on the mental states” of the claimants, and the “combination of the arbitrary detention, lack of awareness of future proceedings, and lack of information and procedural rights provided to the authors was cumulatively inflicting serious psychological harm. This harm constituted treatment contrary to Article 7 of the ICCPR”.