On June 4 the silhouettes of 231 children were placed outside Parliament House in Canberra as a representation of the children still held in Australia’s detention centres.
The action was part of a petition delivery from NGOs demanding all children be released from Australian detention centres.
The petition was organised by GetUp, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Save the Children, Amnesty International Australia, ChilOut, Human Rights Law Centre, Welcome to Australia and Children’s Rights.
Former child detainee Bashir Yousufi said: “There is no excuse, no justification and no rationalisation for holding children in offshore detention where their childhoods are stolen from them.”
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Other speakers at the action included Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, and Labor’s Anna Burke and Melissa Parkes.