The Magill Training Centre in South Australia.
Australia’s Youth Representative to the United Nations Chris Varney has called on the South Australian Government to produce a costed plan and shut down the Magill Training Centre in South Australia.
Mr Varney has visited six detention facilities around the country and describes the Magill Training Centre in South Australia as by far the worst.
“The aging centre is a living children’s rights abuse hell,” says Mr Varney.
“The asbestos runs right throughout the building to the point where you see it visibly in the showers, rotting the shower doors, meaning that the young people don’t even have adequate facilitates to wash themselves in.
“It is morally unjust to leave the building in its current state”, says Mr Varney.
President of UNYA Australia, Alice Bleby agrees: “the South Australian Government has an obligation under the Convention on the Rights of the Child to make sure that the detention of young people is just and humane."
Acting Premier, Kevin Foley, has rejected the claims. “In an interview yesterday he described Chris as a “do-gooder” but UNYA Australia hopes that Mr Foley was elected to do good – and will by the 20th November,” says Ms Bleby.
UNYA Australia calls for the South Australian Government to meet its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and either improve the facilities at Magill or shut the centre by the 20th of November – the 20th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
UNYA Australia continues to advocate for the rights of children and young people. Young people are often the most marginalised and disempowered people in our society. Too often it is these vulnerable young people who are detained through our criminal justice system.
Chris Varney is the 2009 Australian Youth Representative to the United Nations. In his role he is talking to young people from all across Ausralia and ensuring that their voices are being heard on a global stage. The position is made available by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and administered by UNYA.