Advocacy group Human Rights Watch on Friday will release World Report 2025, now in its 35th edition, which reviews human rights practices in more than 100 countries.
The 540-page report's chapter on Australia said the nation had seen "reversals in respect for children's rights" through authorities in Queensland and Western Australia detained children in facilities designed for adults.
"(Australia's) treatment of children in its criminal justice system went from bad to worse in 2024," said Human Rights Watch researcher Annabel Hennessy said.
"These increasing violations are a blot on Australia's human rights reputation globally."
The report also criticised the Northern Territory government for lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 12 years to 10.
Human Rights Watch also noted the Victorian government had backed down from its commitment to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14, instead introducing legislation to raise it only to 12.
The report says Australia continues to evade its international obligations to asylum seekers through new laws "to pay third-party countries to accept non-citizens, including recognised refugees, seek jail time for those who resist deportation, and ban phones from detention centres".
Human Rights Watch also claims the federal government has "made minimal strides" in advancing Indigenous rights and had decided not to establish the Makarrata Commission for treaty-making and truth-telling between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
The group called on the federal government to act on the recommendations of a parliamentary report and promptly introduce legislation for a new national Human Rights Act.
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