Australia Must Develop Better System to Aid Wrongfully Detained Citizens Overseas: HRW

A global human rights organisation says Australia currently lacks a system to identify cases of wrongful detention of its citizens. During a Senate inquiry hearing on Sept. 26, Human Rights Watch (HRW) Australian Director Daniela Gavshon raised the concerns. While Gavshon acknowledged that each case was unique and that there was no one-size-fits-all approach, she said there were many areas that could be improved. “Over the years, we found that one of the major barriers … is the lack of a system to immediately identify these cases,” she said. “In the first instance, they’re treated as ordinary consular cases.” The director added that even if the cases were later identified, there were no clear processes to escalate for proper handling....