Victoria Urged to Follow UN Safeguards in Youth Prisons

Activists are calling on the Victorian government to implement the United Nations’ (UN) anti-torture protocol so children in custody are kept safe.  The Commonwealth government in 2017 signed on to the international convention, which requires independent oversight bodies to inspect all places of detention. It was up to individual states and territories to implement the protocol but Victoria has failed to do so, the open letter published on Jan. 19 said.  “Victoria has now missed multiple deadlines for implementation of the bare minimum safeguards to protect against mistreatment in prison,” the letter said.  “The impact of this failure … is acutely felt by children locked away in Victoria’s youth prisons.”...