Australia's government announced plans to release between 150-876 of children from immigration detention centers on Tuesday after criticism from human rights advocates stating detaining minors is detrimental to their mental and physical health, according to Reuters.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said children and their families in centers on the mainland who arrived before the introduction of tough new laws in mid-2013 would be released into the community on bridging visas by the end of the year while their applications for asylum are processed, Reuters reported.
Minors being held in offshore detention centers and those born in Australia to asylum seekers since a cut-off date of July 19 would be excluded, according to Reuters.
Morrison said the exclusion was critical to Australia's success in stopping asylum seekers from attempting the perilous boat journey, often made by people fleeing conflict zones after paying people-smugglers in Indonesia, Reuters reported.
"Offshore processing is one of the measures stopping the boats and I don't think encouraging children to get on boats where they can die at sea is an acceptable humanitarian outcome," Morrison told reporters, Reuters reported. "This government won't be watering down its policies on border protection that are saving lives at sea."
Conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott won an election last September after campaigning heavily on tough immigration policies, which have been criticized internationally but which polls show remain popular with voters, according to Reuters.
Tuesday's announcement came days before Morrison is to appear at an Australian Human Rights Commission inquiry, which has already heard evidence of detained children swallowing detergents, putting plastic bags over their heads and cutting themselves, Reuters reported.
A group of prominent Christian leaders has accused Morrison of committing "state-sanctioned child abuse" with the government's tough border security measures, while the United Nations has warned Australia could be violating its obligations as a signatory to U.N. refugee conventions, according to Reuters.
