The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre has condemned the secret decision of the Tasmanian government to transfer Aboriginal youths from Ashley Youth Detention Centre to an adult prison facility, a transfer expected to occur imminently.

The TAC said the decision represents a serious breach of human rights and Australia's obligations to children.

On Wednesday the Centre said it understands that some of the Aboriginal young people identified for transfer are unsentenced.

"This is a critical and deeply troubling fact. Placing unsentenced children in an adult prison is a serious breach of the presumption of innocence and basic legal protections that apply to all children deprived of their liberty," the organisation said in a statement.

Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre CEO Rebecca Digney said she understands the decision to transfer these young people has been made without informing the children or their families.

"These young people have the right to know what the State plans to do to them," Ms Digney said.

"By failing to tell them or their families, the State has effectively denied these young the chance to seek legal advice or advocacy at the very moment they need it most.

"This is not a small procedural issue. It goes to the heart of fairness and due process. If young people are not told what decisions are being made about them, they cannot challenge those decisions or protect their rights."

'Cynical' timing of the move slammed

Ms Digney said it is difficult not to view the timing of the decision cynically.

"It is hard not to be cynical that the Department has acted less than a day before the Christmas shutdown, at exactly the time when access to lawyers and advocates is most limited," she said.

"This timing makes an already serious rights breach even worse."

The TAC noted that under Tasmanian law decisions affecting Aboriginal children involved in the youth justice system must involve input from the Aboriginal community. The Centre said this reflects long-standing recognition that culturally informed decision-making is essential for the wellbeing and long-term rehabilitation of Aboriginal young people.

"No such consultation has occurred in this case," the TAC said, noting the decision to enact a secret transfer clearly breaches the Youth Justice Act and international law.

The Youth Justice Act requires that children be treated in a way that focuses on rehabilitation, fairness, with the involvement of family and community. It also specifies that child detainees are not treated in a way that is harsher than how an adult would be treated.

"It is difficult to imagine a similar decision being made about an adult prisoner, without that prisoner being informed of what was proposed" Ms Digney said.

A breach of international and domestic law

Australia is a signatory of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which says children in detention must be treated with dignity, and must be kept separate from adults unless there is a very clear reason why it would be in the child's best interests for that not to be the case.

"When it comes to children in detention, the law is clear; decisions must be made based on what is best for the child, not what is easiest for the State," Ms Digney said.

"For over two decades, the Tasmanian Aboriginal community ran a successful alternative to detention program for many years on a remote island in the Bass Strait. There we treated our troubled young people with kindness, care and dignity. We supported them to take responsibility for their actions and focused on their rehabilitation. The program worked and re-offending rates were low. That program was defunded by the State, and now, we see the result of that cost saving measure, with Aboriginal youth being ear marked for secret transfers to adult prisons."

The TAC noted that the decision to enact the transfers must also be viewed in its historical and legal context.

"More than three decades after the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and less than six months after Tasmania was forced to compensate young people for serious failures of care while in detention, this action shows a disturbing disregard for well-established legal and moral responsibilities," the Centre said.

Ms Digney said the State "must immediately stop these transfers, be transparent with the children and families involved, and ensure these young people's rights are protected".

"Anything less is a profound failure of duty," she said.

Part of a pattern of systemic violence across Australia

Prisoner rights group the National Network said the decision is "a profound breach of human rights and must be stopped immediately".

Network spokesperson Debbie Kilroy said denial of information "strips children and young people of the ability to seek legal advice or advocacy at the very moment their liberty and safety are most at risk".

"This decision must also be understood within a national pattern of systemic violence against Aboriginal children in prison. Across Australia, Aboriginal children and young people are routinely transferred far from their families and communities, often without notice or consent," she said.

"In Western Australia, children have been transferred from youth prison into adult prison environments. In the Northern Territory, Aboriginal children have been removed from prison in Alice Springs and flown to Darwin without families being informed, effectively disappearing children within the system. In Queensland, Aboriginal children from North Queensland are regularly transferred to Brisbane, severing family connection and cultural support without consultation or consent.'

National Indigenous Times has contacted the office of Minister for Justice, Corrections and Rehabilitation, Guy Barnett, for comment.