Chilout (Children Out of Immigration Detention) Information

ChilOut (Children Out of Detention) is a group opposed to the mandatory detention of children under 18 in immigration detention centres in Australia. The group was formed in 2001, in the context of the policies of the Howard government regarding asylum seekers in Australia. The group was inspired by program on ABC Television showed an Iranian child called Shayan Badraie in immigration detention suffering post traumatic stress disorder.[1] A refugee advocate describes her response when she first saw the boy: "At first I believed he was a fake boy; a child made to look like a boy, a fundraiser for famine in Africa." (Acting from the Heart, Sarah Mares and Louise Newman (eds), p 6). ChilOut's aim was to change the Migration Act 1958, to release all children and their families from mandatory and indefinite immigration detention. It did this mainly by petitioning media and politicians. In 2005, ChilOut won the Community (Organisation) Award at the 2005 Human Rights Awards.