Speaking at the commission's first directions hearing, former Indigenous Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda has assured outside factors will not affect his conclusions.
In his opening statement in Darwin, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda swiftly addressed speculation that he will not be impartial as co-head of the the Royal Commission into the treatment of children in the Northern Territory's juvenile justice system.
"I wish to assure the community that I will look only at the evidence and other information given to the commission. Nothing extraneous will affect the conclusions I reach with my co-commissioner."
The Royal Commission is not scheduled to make recommendations until March.
To ensure children in detention are not exposed to mistreatment in the meantime, advocate groups are calling on the federal and territorial governments to immediately halt the use of solitary confinement.
The three groups involved are the Human Rights Law Centre, Amnesty International and National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services.
The organisations say they have received reports that young people continue to be held at Darwin's Don Dale High Security Unit in conditions that amount to solitary confinement.
The Director of Legal Advocacy at the Human Rights law Centre, Ruth Barson, says both levels of government must take preventive steps.
"International evidence shows us that holding young people in solitary confinement can cause irreparable psychological harm. But governments don't need to wait until the finding of the Royal Commission in about 8 months time to make sure that children currently in detention are safe and protected from harm."
The Executive Officer of National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, Karly Warner, says independent inspections of detention facilities are also critical to prevent abuse.
"We need an independent statutory body that can inspect and report to parliament on all of the state's prisons, juvenile detention centres, court custody centres and describe lock-up facilities. And that includes transport. The independent oversight body must have the power to conduct inspections with little to no notice. That is vitally important."
Ms Warner says with over 95 per cent of young people in detention in the Northern Territory being Aboriginal, it is vital that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations are resourced so they can meaningfully engage with the Royal Commission.
"We have got so much evidence to suggest that if these the solutions are not driven by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities then the solutions are going to fail. We need a bottom-up approach."
All three organisations are calling on the federal government to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, which Australia signed in 2009.
The Human Rights Law Centre's Ruth Barson again.
"It would send a really clear message from the federal government that abuse and mistreatment of people in detention is not justifiable."
Amnesty International says since the exposure of mistreatment of young people at Don Dale, an Aboriginal Health Service in Darwin has been given access to work within the courts and youth detention centre.
Its Indigenous Rights Campaigner, Julian Cleary, says that has led to a really big drop in the number of children that are in detention on remand.
"It really shows what is possible if the government and the courts work with the local Aboriginal organisations that understand the context, can look for alternative options for those children, can work with those families to make sure that they are housed in safe accommodation and that detention just doesn't become the default option."
