Abuses breach Australia's international obligations Daniel Flitton Teenagers tortured on Australian soil. Cruel, degrading and inhuman punishment. Luckily there are international laws to prohibit such abuse, for all the good they did. 
Let's get back to that word "torture" in a moment, because by the letter of the law, strict definitions matter.
But legal experts agree the abuse revealed in harrowing footage at a youth detention centre in the Northern Territory almost certainly leaves Australia in breach of obligations the country has signed up to respect.
Stripping teenagers naked, covering their heads with hoods, firing tear gas in a confined space, extended solitary confinement - all are practices likely to run afoul of international human rights standards.
The two most obvious are the International Covenant on the Rights of the Child, as well as the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Other treaties such as the elimination of racial discrimination could also be transgressed.
Not that international law should be seen as the key protection, as University of Melbourne legal professor Cheryl Saunders explains. "What is really essential is doing something about it at home," she says.
But a respect for international law on human rights is the standard Australia regularly demands of other nations, so can rightly expect to be criticised when such manifest failings are exposed.