Australia must step up and keep kids safe
January 2026
As Australia’s appearance before the United Nations Human Rights Council for its Universal Periodic Review draws near, Candice Hughes, Principal Solicitor at YFS Legal, shares some reflections on her work with children impacted by the child detention system, and the Australian Government’s obligations to keep kids safe.
On 26 January 2026, Australia will again stand before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva for our Universal Periodic Review. This is a rare opportunity for the international community to publicly assess our human rights record, particularly our treatment of children in the criminal legal system.
At Australia’s last UPR, the call to raise the age of criminal responsibility was one of the most frequently made recommendations by UN member states. We expect the same, if not stronger, scrutiny this time.
Last review, the Australian Government said youth justice was a state and territory issue, implying they lacked the power to intervene.
But the constitutional advice obtained by NATSILS and the Justice and Equity Centre (JEC) in September 2025 has made it crystal clear:
The Commonwealth does have constitutional power to raise the minimum age across Australia.
Australia continues to allow children as young as 10 to be arrested, charged, hauled before a court, and sentenced to detention. This is completely out of step with international human rights standards and the practices of comparable nations.
In Queensland, we are seeing a youth justice system in crisis:
- More children in watch houses
- High rates of First Nations over‑representation
- Increasingly punitive legislation that pushes kids deeper into the system
- The incarceration of children who are overwhelmingly experiencing trauma, disability, neurodivergence, and disadvantage.
The evidence is indisputable: criminalising children this young damages brain development, increases trauma, disrupts schooling, entrenches contact with police and courts, and increases the likelihood of future offending.
Locking kids up makes communities less safe, not more.
Raising the minimum age to at least 14, in line with the UN and international best practice, would:
- Keep kids connected to education, family and community
- Enable earlier therapeutic, disability‑informed and trauma‑informed responses
- Reduce reoffending
- Reduce long‑term costs to government.
As tens of thousands of people march across the country calling for First Nations justice on January 26, Australia will simultaneously be grilled in Geneva for its treatment of overwhelmingly First Nations children in our detention centres. The connection is impossible to ignore.
If, once again, dozens of countries tell Australia to stop incarcerating 10, 11 and 12 year‑olds, the Commonwealth must not hide behind jurisdictional arguments.
The constitutional advice is clear:
They can act. Now they must act.
Failure to do so should be seen as a deliberate political choice, not a constitutional limitation.
The community legal sector, especially frontline youth justice and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services, must continue to:
- Tell the stories of the children impacted
- Provide evidence‑based alternatives to criminalisation
- Advocate collectively to all levels of government
- Mobilise community support
- Hold the Commonwealth accountable for the commitments it makes internationally
We must ensure that when Australia appears on the international stage on 26 January, the voices of the children harmed by our system, and the communities demanding change, are impossible to ignore.