190buckets

when we made this work, australia was holding approximately 812 children on mainland and offshore detention centres. we don’t know their names, all we have is the numbers.

in protest against the australian governments immigration policy, pvi collective and creative comrades set ourselves the challenge to withstand 190 buckets of icy cold river water: one for every child held in detention on nauru [as of april 2014]. this is our call to action to give voice to the remaining 622.

background

according to the 2014 national human rights commission inquiry investigating the rights of children in immigration detention in australia, the australian government have been accused of violating articles 3, 37, 6, 39 and article 22 of the united nations international covenant of civil and political rights in relation to the rights of the child.

whether on our shores or held behind razor wire in a prison on a nearby island, the australian government are detaining children. we declare that they are our children too.

the facts:

australian government dept of immigration border protection statistics – dated 31 july 2014

• christmas island and cocos keeling island: 148 children
• perth immigration residential housing: 22 children
• sydney immigration residential housing: 23 children
• brisbane immigration transit accommodation: 10 children
• melbourne immigration transit accommodation: 68 children
• adelaide immigration transit accommodation: 1 child
• republic of nauru: 190 children
• inverbrackie detention facility: 60 children
• wickham point immigration detention centre: 290 children

for up to date statistics visit: department of immigration

for more information on children in detention visit: chilout.org