This comprehensive annotated bibliography discusses about the poor mental health of the refugees and asylum seekers under detention in developed countries. This sits within the “Social Work Practice in Mental Health” and “Social Work with Refugee Survivors of Torture and Trauma” categories of Social Work fields of practice (Alston and McKinnon, 2005) and uses sources from Australian publications on these issues. The sources cited suggest that due to the large number of refugees and asylum seekers, governments of developed countries have implemented policies to deter people from seeking asylum such as immigration detention policies, strict visa restrictions, rigorous border checks and the stopping of voyages of vessels suspected of carrying smuggled asylum seekers (Silove et al. 2000). The refugees and asylum seekers go through tremendous amount of mental suffering and the worst affected are small children and adolescents. Families entering the refuge countries suffer from displacement and separation, grief and mental agony, gross violence in their countries of origin and are needy, helpless and vulnerable who need to be taken care of. Australia for example has ratified numerous …show more content…
The authors of this widely cited research paper have done a commendable job by correlating the legal and psychiatric systems with their social implications. Hutchinson and Martin argue that the detention of children is in contravention of the Human Rights as provided by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CROC). A report released by Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission stated that the country had failed to take appropriate steps to protect and promote the mental health of the children under detention and therefore, breached Article 37 of the CROC. Research suggests that the effect of detention has more detrimental impact on mental health of children than on adults and it should be used as last resort as it is not in the best interest of refugee