We’re Better Than This

wbttaus

Over 700 children are currently detained indefinitely by the Australian government and there’s a rising number of people who are standing up and saying we’re better than this.

We’re better than this Australia is a movement to draw people’s attention to the reality of life for children in detention camps at the behest of the Australian Government. The people behind We’re Better Than This is an alliance of informed Australians who – no longer able to say, “I didn’t know there were so many children in mandatory detention being treated so inhumanely by our Government”- find themselves now no longer able to stay silent.

This isn’t a political movement as both sides of politics have been part of the problem. Now it’s time to find a solution and release children from detention. It breaks my heart to know that for many children, life behind razor wire is all they know.

No other country in the world holds children in the way we do, and the United Nations is very, very concerned about Australia’s policies. – Professor Gillian Triggs, president of the Australian Human Rights Commission

As a country we have stood up and pointed the finger at human rights abuses in other countries and I believe we need to keep doing that, but our protests don’t carry much weight when we continue to lock children away when they’ve committed no crime.

On Christmas Island, visiting doctors found children showing serious signs of both physical and mental deterioration. On the island of Nauru, UN inspectors deemed the conditions inhumane and unsuitable for children, while a Transfield Services intelligence report detailed several cases of child abuse and self-harm. – The Guardian

If you want your voice to be heard, there’s more information and a bunch of resources at the We’re Better Than This website.



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About the author

Rodney Olsen

Rodney is a husband, father, cyclist, blogger and podcaster from Perth Western Australia.

He previously worked in radio for about 25 years but these days he spends his time at Compassion Australia, working towards releasing children from poverty in Jesus' name.

The views he expresses here are his own.

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