has increased substantially in recent years.”114 The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated in its resolution on the issue that the conditions and safeguards afforded to immigration detainees are often worse than those of criminal detainees, and the provision for the needs of vulnerable persons is often insufficient. It observed that, “This all has a negative impact on the mental and physical well-being of persons detained both during and after detention.”115 The UNHCR advises that the propensity for psychological problems needs to be taken into account when assessing the necessity to detain victims of torture or trauma, i.e. before a decision to detain has been taken. It emphasises that victims of torture and other serious physical, psychological or sexual violence also need special attention and should generally not be detained.116 The UNHCR Detention Guidelines recognise that detention can cause, as well as aggravate, psychological illnesses and symptoms, and that this can happen even if individuals present no symptoms at the time of detention.117 The examples below illustrate why the detention of vulnerable asylum-seekers, including VoTs, must be abolished. These examples demonstrate that policies aimed at identifying VoTs within detention, for treatment and possible release, are not implemented properly. Therefore, the VoT’s ability to access treatment is seriously undermined. Australia – the Immigration Detention Torture and Trauma Policy The Australian government introduced a policy in 2009 aimed at identifying and supporting victims of torture and trauma who are in immigration detention. The policy introduces processes for the early identification of victims of torture and trauma so as to enable them to access appropriate services for medical assistance and, if possible, to release them from immigration detention and place them in community detention.118 On paper, the policy has many good intentions, for example: • It aims to implement different levels of screening, according to whether the asylum-seeker comes from an area known to be high risk for torture and trauma. In these cases the individual would be offered specialised screening and assessment automatically. • All groups of asylum-seekers entering immigration detention undergo universal health screening designed to detect signs of psychological distress that may be compatible with a history of torture and trauma. • All personnel who work in detention facilities receive a minimum level of training, which includes recognising the signs and symptoms of torture and trauma, cultural issues relating to the expression of trauma and routes and processes for referral to health services. Although Australia has a policy in place to identify and support VoTs within immigration detention, a number of NGOs119 and the Australian Human Rights Commission120 have questioned how effectively this policy is implemented on the ground. In particular, very few VoTs are transferred into community detention, and there are insufficient numbers of health professionals compared to the number of detainees found to be victims of torture or trauma. These factors hamper the early identification of victims of torture and trauma and their ability to access medical assistance whilst in immigration detention. Recognising victims of torture in national asylum procedures / 63