Reports have confirmed the abuse of girls in detention right across the country. Speak up – tell the government to stop the abuse.

If you think of a children’s prison, you might picture a yard of boys. But girls are very much the hidden face of kids in prison, and their invisibility increases the potential for abuse and discrimination. It’s time for girls to have their voices heard and rights respected.

We’ve seen disturbing reports of humiliating and degrading practices of strip searches, sexual abuse, and inappropriate detention conditions. In one report, staff subjected a girl to 72 hours of solitary confinement and she was found drenched in her own urine.

Indigenous girls are vastly overrepresented in youth detention, and have often faced violence or disadvantage in their lives. This is a national crisis.

Locking up more girls is not the way forward. There’s a simple solution to keep girls strong in culture and community, and we need you to get behind it.

Call on the Prime Minister to:

  1. Stop the abuse of girls in detention;
  2. Show leadership on this national crisis; and
  3. Invest in Indigenous-led prevention and prison programs that empower girls to avoid or get out of the quicksand of the justice system.

Sign this petition now to end the abuse and give Indigenous girls a brighter future.

Thank you!

Thank you to the nearly 17,000 people who took action to end the abuse of girls in detention in Australia.

We have written to the Minister for Women, Kelly O’Dwyer, urging her to call on the Attorney-General, Minister for Social Services and her state and territory counterparts to:

  • ensure that preventing the abuse of girls in detention is a priority during the implementation of Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture
  • invest in Indigenous-led prevention and prison programs that empower girls to avoid or get out of the quicksand of the justice system.
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Let's fix the justice system for Indigenous kids
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have been demanding changes to the justice system for decades. Indigenous Rights Advisor and Palawa
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  Our Petition

I am horrified at the abuse of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls in detention, who are now 27 times more likely to be imprisoned than non-Indigenous girls.

Indigenous girls in the youth justice system are highly likely to be victims of violence and from disadvantaged backgrounds. They face discrimination based on their race and gender. Girls are being subjected to the degrading and humiliating practices of forcible strip searches, sexual abuse, solitary confinement and inappropriate detention conditions.

These practices are serious breaches of Australia’s human rights obligations under the Convention Against Torture and the Convention on the Rights of the Child and must be stopped.

Australia can and must do better than this. I want all girls to live happy, healthy lives in their communities.

I call on the Prime Minister to end the abuse and overrepresentation of girls in detention. The Government must immediately invest in early intervention, prevention and rehabilitation programs that are tailored to the needs of girls, and for Indigenous girls, support programs designed and run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Independent reports in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia have confirmed the abuse of girls in detention and called for investment in these programs.  This must form part of a national plan to end the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in detention.

Indigenous girls must not be neglected by the Government any longer. I urge the Prime Minister Turnbull to show national leadership for this national crisis.

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