The Role of Civil Society in Monitoring and Overseeing Closed Environments

Abstract

In 2008 the Law Faculty at Monash University was awarded an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage grant to examine the application of human rights in a range of closed environments. A ‘closed environment’ was defined for this project, in line with the OPCAT definition, as ‘any place where persons are or may be deprived of their liberty by means of placement in a public or private setting in which a person is not permitted to leave at will by order of any judicial, administrative or other order, or by any other lawful authority relevant to the project's goals.’ The specific settings addressed were prisons, police cells, forensic psychiatric institutions, closed mental health and disability units, and immigration detention. The aim of the research project has been to understand how closed environments incorporate human rights considerations in managing the conditions and treatment of persons held in these facilities. Findings are being published in various contexts. Monitoring and oversight of closed environments is an important component of protecting the human rights of people in closed environments. It is carried out in various ways: through court proceedings and formal complaints-handling bodies, through legislative reform and review, through bodies with powers of inspection, and through the informal attention and visits of volunteers and non-government organisations. This paper reports on the views of members of civil society groups, groups we have collectively referred to as ‘volunteer and advocacy groups’ (‘V&A’). They cover a range of agencies, from those with formal legislative power to inspect and visit, to those which have been established locally to act as advocates.