Australia is Failing Children in Youth Detention this World Children’s Day
This Thursday 20 November 2025 marks the anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) – World Children’s Day. This year’s World Children’s Day celebrates the right of every child around the world to play, a right encased in Article 31 of the CRC. This right recognises the importance of allowing children to engage in play and recreational activities. However, the implementation of this right across Australia’s youth justice centres has been inadequate at best, and non-existent at worst.
The right to play is too often ignored or dismissed as a matter of triviality or unimportance, despite its proven necessity for children’s development. But the right to play does not simply mandate a child’s right to play tag or kick a football, but rather speaks to the intrinsic value of allowing children to be children, and affording children autonomy and dignity in their exercise of this right. Play also encourages cognitive and social development, enabling children to engage with each other, resolve conflicts and practice healthy communication.
Importantly, the right to play is not restricted to younger children – studies have shown that incorporating play and ‘playfulness’ into school programs is highly beneficial to teenagers as well. In the case of older children, this right manifests in being allowed to exercise creativity and independence in their learning and other activities.
For children in detention, research has demonstrated that providing enjoyable recreational activities can assist young offenders not only in coping with the stresses of detention, but also in allowing them to develop a “non-criminalised” sense of self and identity. This is incredibly important for rehabilitative purposes, particularly in facilitating the reintegration of young people into their communities upon release.
International law is also clear on the necessity of the right to play for youths in detention. A number of sections in the UN Havana Rules specify how the right to play can be facilitated for children in detention, including mandating time for daily exercise in open air, and additional time for other recreational activities. This is further emphasised in the UN Mandela Rules, as well as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Australia has ratified.
As such, the importance of the right to play has been well-established, but it continues to be a significant issue in the youth justice system.
Youth detention centres just don’t prioritise recreation and leisure activities and therefore persist as deeply traumatic and highly stressful environments. This is compounded with the use of isolation and solitary confinement practices which further inhibit the implementation of any recreational activities that do exist.
Due to such practices, the rehabilitative potential of these recreational activities is significantly limited, and young people are suffering as a result. This was further emphasised by the ACCG in 2017, where they insisted that these isolation practices “should never interfere” with the provision of educational and recreational activities in youth detention centres.
Reports into youth detention facilities across Australia have noted the lack of recreational activities and educational programs as a high point of concern. Such inadequacies often lead to “extreme boredom” on the part of detainees which frequently result in staff confrontations and further distress for the children in detention.
Although there are minimum recreation requirements across Australia which require the provision of these activities in youth detention centres, these requirements are not adequately enforced. A 2024 report into the Cleveland Youth Detention Centre noted difficulties in delivering the otherwise satisfactory recreational activities and programs due to staff shortages. The impact of separation practices on the implementation of these activities was also noted.
It is clear that recreational activities are necessary for the social development and rehabilitation of children in detention. Providing such programs is crucial to affording young detainees the dignity and autonomy that they deserve and should not be dependent on the use of isolation practices. Youth detention centres must commit to ensuring that youth detainees have access to such activities.
Youth offenders have the right to play and engage in recreation just like any other child. It is time that Australia’s youth justice system reflects that.