Mandatory detention refers to the practice of detaining and imprisoning the individuals that seek asylum politically. Mandatory detention is widely practiced in Australia where the immigrants having no citizenship are subjected to mandatory detention and are usually sent to Christmas Islands where the reason for arrival to Australia is identified. Mandatory detention helps in facilitating the refugee claims processing and prevents migration unlawfully. It also helps in saving of cost re-locating the people towards the community (Crock, 2013). The children refugees of the detention camp-seeking asylum in Australia are faced with harsh and cruel conditions both culturally, socially, physically and mentally that are very different from the ones they left behind in their home countries. These experiences make the children vulnerable as they are put through violent situations and usually have to witness other violent acts. The human rights of the individuals in immigration detention are especially concerned for the Commission. Liberty being the fundamental human right is recognized as the important instrument of human right including Australia’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). People held in detention are usually vulnerable for human rights violation (DE, 2014). Other rights involved in the mandatory detention include The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) and The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.
The major research problem that has been identified is access to classified data regarding the research. According to Essex (2014), mandatory detention for the immigrants and refugee children has both physical and social impact having a long-term effect on the future of the children. Since the mandatory detention is officially legal in Australia, the Government did not allow collecting the data regarding the physical and psychological impact of mandatory detention directly from the children detainees (Fleay, 2015).
The research questions are as follows:
The aim of the research is to perform a qualitative study of the physical and psychological impact of mandatory detention among refugee children in Australia.
The refugee children in mandatory detention camps of Australia go through hardships of life both mentally and physically. This affects their future career as well as creates a deep impact on their future life (Fleay, 2013). The current research helps to investigate the physical impact of mandatory detention among refugee children in Australia as well as critically analyze their psychological impact. As per Gibson (2016), the investigation and analysis helps in critically evaluating the aftermath of the impacts of mandatory detention among refugee children in Australia. Finally, all the information gathered helps in recommending potential solution to the issue and problem.
The refugee and asylum seekers often experience violent conflict, violation of human rights and family separation. It also includes inhumane physical and sexual violence as well as torture in the host country. According to Isaacs (2015), the experiences increase the risk of condition of mental health like anxiety and depression exacerbated through the uncertainty as well as detention of harsh conditions. The stressors facilitate the accumulation of mental distress as well as add the stress level to much higher value. Koulish (2016) stated that the detention of immigrants and refugee children causes a lifelong impact on the physical and mental health. According to the Australian Human Rights Commission report, approximately one-third of the children in centers of immigration detention have disorder mentally requiring serious mental counseling and psychiatric support. Kronick (2015) commented that if the children are protected from, stress further, the mental improvement will be definitely achieved. The detention camps causes chronics stress on the children and impacts the development of brain displayed by delay in learning language, regulation of emotions with excessive tantrums, regressive behavior like bed-wetting, self-stimulation, anxious behavior, crying, biting nails and difficulty in sleeping and eating (Mulheron, 2014).
The four types of research philosophy usually adopted for a research are the interpretivism, positivism, post-positivism and realism. Positivism refers to the philosophical system that usually helps in recognizing the data verified scientifically and supports mathematical proof of the data (Mayne, 2016). Since the current research is regarding the qualitative study of the physical and psychological impact of mandatory detention among refugee children in Australia, positivism is discarded due to absence of any mathematical or scientific proof. Realism on the other hand helps in conceptual framework, policies and perceptions to be validated that is also not very appropriate for the current research. However, Interpretivism will be selected as the research philosophy for the current research as it helps in analysis of real life issues and problems. The research philosophy also helps in considering samples of cross-culture and large number of data. The perception and experiences of the ex detainees will also be understood easily through providing scope for further development.
Research approach helps in providing a initial guidance for the research and outlines the approach that will be adopted for conducting the research. Two types of research approach is usually considered for the research that are inductive approach and deductive approach. Inductive approach helps the researcher to emerge new theories as well as generalize the theory that has been considered. Deductive approach helps the researcher to validate the assumptions that has been considered. Deductive approach is usually based on past and present available data conducted for deducing the topic conclusion. For the current research, deductive approach will be selected as it helps in providing the explanation to the topic in a candid manner (Mountz, 2014). Inductive approach will be discarded as it focuses on a particular research finding and progress the research towards a more generalized manner and thus proper data result is not obtained. However, a deductive approach helps the researcher to gather data from a generalized approach and progress the research towards a focused finding.
The research design helps in providing an elaboration on the topic that has been provided for the research. The three types of research design that is present usually are exploratory, descriptive and explanatory. For the current research, descriptive research design will be selected as it helps in describing the qualitative study of physical and psychological effect of mandatory detention of refugee children in Australia (Newman, 2013). Descriptive research also helps in increased testing of concept as well as understanding and flexibility of data sources thus meets the research objective effectively. Explanatory and exploratory research design is not selected for the current research, as they do not consider the cause and effect of the relationship as well as ignores the time factor. The qualitative analysis requires understanding the cause and effect of the mandatory detention of refugee children and its effect on the physical and psychology as well as on their future life.
The two types of research methods widely accepted are the qualitative and quantitative methods. For the current research, qualitative research will be adopted and quantitative research method will be rejected. Qualitative data is usually the abstract and provides insight and in depth knowledge regarding the research. Further qualitative data does not involve numeric values (Newman, 2013). On the contrary, quantitative data involves the numerical data within a research and is discarded in the research, as the physical and psychological effects cannot be well defined numerically for the refugee children at detention camps. However the qualitative data can be used for understanding the effects and analyze the effects efficiently.
Primary data will been collected for the research. The qualitative data have been collected through interview with 3 ex-detainees who were detained due to absence of visa and arrived Australia in mid 90s and early 2000s. Background research will be done on the ex-detainees to test the truth of their background experiences. The interview that will be conducted will contain 5 same questions asked to the ex-detainees to get a clear overview of the physical and psychological impact of mandatory detention among refugee children in Australia (Phillips, 2013). Further, they will also be asked regarding their current employment and career for evaluating the aftermath of the impacts of mandatory detention among refugee children in Australia.
The target participants that will be considered for the research includes all the ex-detainees who were the victim of mandatory detention in mid 90s and early 2000s for the refugee children and were detained due to lack of visa.
Inclusive sampling criteria will include the ex detainees experiencing severe mental disorder and hence were subjected to mental counseling. Other criteria involve the participants being subjected to detention camps in their childhood that led to create an impact on their future life, physically and psychologically.
Exclusive sampling criteria involve the participants having a background of criminal behavior and are mentally unsound.
The total sample frame includes 12 ex detainees.
Probability sampling method will be adopted in which inclusive sampling method will help in adopting inclusive criteria for including the participants for the interview. Further exclusive sampling implying exclusive sampling criteria will be adopted for excluding the participants for the interview.
The total sample size will be of 12 ex detainees from which 3 ex-detainees will be selected.
The ethical considerations that will be followed in the research for performing a qualitative study of the physical and psychological impact of mandatory detention among refugee children in Australia involves four basic principles of respect for person, respect of communities, justice and beneficence. The respect for person includes respecting the autonomy as well as the participants decision-making and their dignity. The risks socially, physically and psychologically are minimized and the benefits are maximized for benefitting from participants of the research (Popescu, 2016). Participants are selected from the people group that helps in benefitting from the research. The respect for the communities are maintained through protecting and respecting the interests and values of the communities as a whole as well as protect ting the community for harm (Triggs, 2015). The qualitative data will be collected from the ex-detainees of the refugee camps from the 90s and early 2000s most of the participants being 30 years of age in average. The participants will be provided their own free will to take part in the interview and will be provided details of the procedure for the research project as well as any kind of potential risks associated to the project. The participants are ensured to provide genuine information investigating their background experience in detention camps of Australia, must be competent in making decisions regarding the participation, and will ensure that they have no mental disability as an aftermath of the events free from any coercion. A written consent or oral will be provided on the nature of research that will be conducted. It will also be ensured not to share information between participants and protect the names and data of the participants as well as not use the research for commercial purpose. Further, the methodology and findings will also be open for discussion as well as peer review and the previous researches used as source of knowledge, concepts and knowledge will be acknowledged. The participants will also be protected from intrusion, distress, indignity, physical discomfort, personal embarrassment and psychological harm. The data analysis will also be executed with anonymity and confidentiality (Witney, 2016). The research will be carried out as much as maintaining professional expertise. Consequences of the research engagement will be provided to the participants as well as attempted to alleviate disadvantages potentially for participation for the research. The research to be conducted will also ensure that it is beneficial to the society without harming the society. Any kind of gender difference will be discarded along with sexual orientation differences and racism.
References
Crock, M., & Miller, D. (2013). Mandatory Detention of Asylum Seekers in Australia. Hum. Rts. Defender, 22(3), 17-23.
DE, L., & WOODMAN, V. (2014). The Morton Memo and Asylum Seekers: An Overview of the US Mandatory Detention Policy. New England Law Review, 48(4), 23-45.
Essex, R. (2014). Human rights, dual loyalties, and clinical independence: challenges facing mental health professionals working in Australia’s immigration detention network. Journal of bioethical inquiry, 11(1), 75-83.
Fleay, C. (2015). The limitations of monitoring immigration detention in Australia. Australian Journal of Human Rights, 21(1), 21-46.
Fleay, C., & Briskman, L. (2013). Hidden Men: Bearing witness to mandatory detention in Australia. Refugee Survey Quarterly, 32(3), 112-129.
Gibson, J. (2016). The shameful history of border protection: An article that shows little has changed. Australian Rationalist, The, 100(3), 30-45.
Isaacs, D. (2015). Nauru and detention of children. Journal of paediatrics and child health, 51(4), 353-354.
Koulish, R. (2016). Using risk to assess the legal violence of mandatory detention. Laws, 5(3), 30-34.
Kronick, R., & Rousseau, C. (2015). Rights, compassion and invisible children: A critical discourse analysis of the parliamentary debates on the mandatory detention of migrant children in Canada. Journal of Refugee Studies, 28(4), 544-569.
Mace, A. O., Mulheron, S., Jones, C., & Cherian, S. (2014). Educational, developmental and psychological outcomes of resettled refugee children in Western Australia: a review of School of Special Educational Needs: Medical and Mental Health input. Journal of paediatrics and child health, 50(12), 985-992.
Mayne, J., Lowrie, D., & Wilson, J. (2016). Occupational Experiences of Refugees and Asylum Seekers Resettling in Australia: A Narrative Review. OTJR: occupation, participation and health, 36(4), 204-215.
Mountz, A., & Loyd, J. (2014). Transnational productions of remoteness: Building onshore and offshore carceral regimes across borders. Geographica Helvetica, 69(5), 389-430.
Newman, L. (2013). Seeking asylum—trauma, mental health, and human rights: An Australian perspective. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 14(2), 213-223.
Newman, L., Proctor, N., & Dudley, M. (2013). Seeking asylum in Australia: immigration detention, human rights and mental health care. Australasian Psychiatry, 21(4), 315-320.
Phillips, J., & Spinks, H. (2013). Boat arrivals in Australia since 1976. Parliament of Australia, Department of Parliamentary Services, Parliamentary Library.
Popescu, G. H. (2016). The effect of mandatory prolonged detention on the mental health of asylum seekers and refugees. American Journal of Medical Research, 3(2), 188-188.
Triggs, G. (2015). The Forgotten Children: National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention 2014. The Medical journal of Australia, 202(11), 553-555.
Witney, A. J., & Bates, G. (2016). Narrative integration of identity following trauma Life-stories of immigrants granted asylum in Australia following prolonged detention. Narrative Inquiry, 26(1), 88-107.
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