17 November 2018 - 0 Comments

Children Don’t Belong In Jail is a new protest song released by New Zealand musicians Luke Buda and Don McGlashan in response to refugee children still detained on the island of Nauru. Don and Luke felt they couldn’t stay silent on this issue and have joined forces to pen this charity single, in association with trans-Tasman grassroots advocacy group Mums 4 Refugees, to highlight the issues these children continue to face.

Mums 4 Refugees co-convener Sarah Jane Parton says as of today, almost 20 asylum seeker and refugee children are still incarcerated by the Australian government on the tiny island of Nauru.

“Many of these children have physical and mental health issues and,contrary to the messaging from Australian politicians, most children and families transferred to Australia to date have been moved for medical reasons following legal intervention,” she says.

“For the remaining children, watching their friends leave while battling their own physical and mental health issues can be soul-destroying.”

Sarah adds that without a clear time-frame for removal from the island these families continue to face an uncertain future."

"I have felt very upset and outraged by the reports coming out of Nauru, especially the stories of children as young as 5 engaging in serious self harm. We wrote this song to raise awareness of what is happening in off shore detention, in the hope that more people will sign up to the campaign to pressure the Australian government to end the horror they have created for these little kids and their families." - Luke Buda

“The way these children are being treated is inhumane and shameful and the Australian Government must be pushed to do much, much better for these people.” - Don McGlashan

“The release of this song shows how deeply New Zealanders feel about the plight of the children stuck on Nauru. The situation there deteriorates by the day, time is running out, we have to get the kids off Nauru now,” - Luke Buda

All proceeds from the song will be donated to support the work of the National Justice Project, a Sydney based pro bono human rights law firm acting for many of the children remaining on Nauru.

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