CHAPTER 5 VIEWS AND PERSPECTIVES OF CHILDREN DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY A number of broad themes emerged from the review of the literature. Children spoke about the experience of their confinement, the loss of autonomy and the feeling of isolation,3 and the quality of information provided to them.4 Some children reported feeling unsafe or being subjected to violence or ill-treatment.5 The poor physical conditions of detention,6 and inadequate access to programmes and services7 also emerged as significant issues. However, overall, the search identified a relatively small number of studies that focus wholly or exclusively on documenting the experiences, perspectives and rights of children deprived of their liberty. Moreover, the studies identified appeared to involve small numbers of children and focused on the experience of a specific type of detention in a single jurisdiction. In that respect, the literature review reinforced the importance of undertaking a dedicated consultation for the Global Study to hear directly from detained children about their rights, engaging in as wide a range of jurisdictions as possible with children in a variety of detention settings. 3 Australian Human Rights Commission, The Forgotten Children: National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention, 2014, p. 68; Elizabeth Elliott & Hasantha Gunasekera, The health and well-being of children in immigration detention: report to the Australian Human Rights Committee Monitoring Visit to Wickham Point Detention Centre, 16-18 October 2015, p. 20. 4 National Children’s Commissioner, Children’s Rights Report 2016, Australian Human Rights Com­mission, Sydney, 2016; Children’s Commissioner, ‘Why are they going to listen to me?’: Young people’s perspectives on the complaints system in the youth justice system and secure estate, Lon­don, Children’s Commissioner, July 2012; Alliance for England, Speaking Freely: Children and Young People in Europe Talk About Ending Violence in Custody: Research Report, London, Children’s Rights Alliance for England, 2013; Kristina Marku, Child-Friendly Information for Children in Migration: What Do Children Think?, Brussels, Council of Europe, 2018, p. 8; Save the Children, Current immigration detention practice and alternatives for child asylum seekers and refugees in Asia and the Pacific, Save the Children, May 2017. 5 European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 24th General Report of the CPT 2014, Brussels, Council of Europe, 2015, para. 97; Children’s Rights Alliance for England, Speaking Freely: Children and Young People in Europe Talk About Ending Violence in Custody: Research Report, London, Children’s Rights Alliance for England; European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 26th General Report of the CP 2016, Brussels, Council of Europe, 2017, para. 38; National Children’s Commissioner, Children’s Rights Report 2016, Sydney, Australian Human Rights Commission, 2016, p. 17; Cf. Marku, op. cit., p. 8; Cf. Save the Children (2017), p. 20; Sarah Frankenburg, Andy Chidley & Fatima Husain, Experiences of the care system: Young people’s accounts of living in institutions, NatCen Social Research & The Lumos Foundation, August 2018, pp. 14-16. 6 Howard League for Penal Reform, Life Inside 2010: A unique insight into the day-to-day experiences of 15-17 year old males in prison, London, p. 13; cf. Children’s Rights Report 2016, op. cit., p. 167; Human Rights Watch (HRW), Barely Surviving: Detention, Abuse and Neglect of Migrant Children in Indonesia, 2013, p. 3; HRW, Two Years with No Moon: Immigration Detention of Children in Thailand, 2014; HRW, ‘Why Are You Keeping Me Here?’: Unaccompanied Children Detained in Greece, 2016; HRW, In the Freezer: Abusive Conditions for Women and Children in US Immigration Holding Cells, 2018; HRW ‘It is My Dream to Leave this Place’: Children with Disabilities in Serbian Institutions, 2016; cf. Frankenburg, Chidley & Husain (2018), op. cit., p. 8. 7 82 Human Rights Watch, ‘Without Education They Lost Their Future’: Denial of Education to Child Asylum Seekers on the Greek Islands, 2018; cf. Save the Children (2017) op. cit.; cf. HRW, Barely Surviving (2013), op. cit.; Nils Muiznieks, Report by Nils Muiznieks, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, following his visit to Bulgaria from 9 to 11 February 2015, Strasbourg, Council of Europe, October 2015, para. 32.