Amnesty International says children are being held indefinitely in Australian offshore detention centres with substandard medical care.
Last week the Refugee Council of Australia said the Australian Government's own statistics show a higher proportion of the children in the detention system are being locked up than the adults.
The Refugee Campaign Coordinator at Amnesty International Australia, Graeme McGregor, says there is only one pediatrician on Nauru, and no life-support machinery for children.
There were reports last week that children on Christmas Island were sick from the presence of phosphate, and it's likely they are headed for Nauru, where Mr McGregor says conditions are worse.
"There's absolutely no excuse for holding this children in detention, now beyond that we have serious concerns about the conditions that children in detention are being exposed to, apart from the very clear mental health impacts of that detention. We're hearing very disturbing reports leaking out from offshore detention centres about serious lack of health care for children."
The Refugee Campaign Coordinator at Amnesty International Australia, Graeme McGregor.
