First Annual Children’s Rights Symposium for Australia and the Asia-Pacific,Children’s Rights Symposium for Australia and the Asia-Pacific

Children’s Rights Symposium for Australia and the Asia-Pacific

The Convention on the Rights of the Child at 35: Developments in children’s rights in Australia, Asia-Pacific, and the World

On 22 November 2024, the School of Law, Western Sydney University, will hold a Symposium themed The Convention on the Rights of the Child at 35: Developments in children’s rights in Australia, Asia-Pacific, and the World. The Symposium will bring together some of the world’s leading scholars in the field of children’s rights. It will be the first of a series of events examining this critical aspect of International Human Rights Law.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child turns 35 on the 20th of November 2024. The Convention has become synonymous with children’s rights, and has had a significant impact on legislation, policy and practice in Australia and the world. With a focus on Australia and the region, this Symposium celebrates the achievements of the Convention and reflects upon some of the challenges it faces.

PROGRAM

Children’s Rights Symposium for Australia and Asia-Pacific

22 NOVEMBER 2024


PROGRAM

8.30 – 8.50: Registration

8.50 – 9.00: Welcome and opening remarks


Prof. Catherine Renshaw, Dean, School of Law Western Sydney University

Prof. John Juriansz, Director, Whitlam Institute

9.00 - 10.30: Keynote panel: The CRC at 35: Achievements and Challenges

Chair and discussant: Prof. John Tobin, University of Melbourne

Commissioner Anne Hollonds, National Children’s Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission

The human rights of Australia’s children – addressing the barriers to action

Commissioner Natalie Lewis, Commissioner, Queensland Family and Child Commission

The CRC and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the work of the Queensland Family and Child Commission: Achievements and challenges

Justice Vui Clarence Nelson, Supreme Court of Samoa

The CRC at 35: Promises

Prof. Ton Liefaard, Leiden Law School, Leiden University, The Netherlands

Children’s rights at cross-roads: How do children's rights hold up in the 21st Century?

10.30 – 11.00: MORNING TEA

11.00 – 12.30: The CRC and children’s rights in the practice of selected institutions and courts

Chair: Prof. Judith Cashmore, University of Sydney

Jacqueline Fredman and Helen Wodak, Deputy Ombudsman Complaints and Resolution, and Deputy Ombudsman, Monitoring and Review respectively, Ombudsman New South Wales

The NSW Ombudsman’s Office and its child-centred approach to its functions

Paul Clark, Executive Manager, Education Prevention and Inclusion, eSafety Commissioner Office

The CRC, children’s rights and the work of the eSafety Commissioner

Magistrate Alison Viney, Children’s Court NSW

The CRC and the work of the Children’s Court of NSW

Prof. Sharon Bessell, Australian National University [pre-recorded]

Children’s human rights and poverty in Australia: 35 years of the UNCRC

12.30 – 13.30: LUNCH

13.30 – 15.00: The CRC and the protection of children’s rights in Australia

Chair: Dr Meda Couzens, Western Sydney University

Prof. Tamara Walsh, University of Queensland [pre-recorded] 

Children’s rights and human rights acts in Australia

Prof. Claire Fenton-Glynn, Monash University

A Child Rights Act for Australia

Assoc. Prof. Faith Gordon, Australian National University

The CRC and juvenile justice in Australia

Assoc. Prof. Holly Doel-Mackaway, Macquarie University

Decolonising children’s participation in public decision-making in Australia: Rethinking article 12 of the CRC

15.00 – 15.30: AFTERNOON TEA

15.30 – 17.00: The CRC in Asia-Pacific and the world


Chair: Prof. Nicola Taylor, University of Otago, New Zealand

Prof. Claire Breen, University of Waikato, New Zealand

Children's Rights in Aotearoa New Zealand are under pressure: (How) can the CRC's complaints mechanism help?

Prof. Amanda Third, Young and Resilient Research Centre, Western Sydney University

Child participation in research on children’s digital technology practices in the Asia Pacific

Assoc. Prof.  Noam Peleg, University of New South Wales

Reflections on the war on Gaza and international children's rights: Promise and failure of the CRC

Prof. John Tobin, University of Melbourne

Looking Forward – What do the next 35 years hold for children’s rights?

Closing address: 17.00 – 17.10

Cocktail: 17.10 – 18.00

Children’s Rights Symposium for Australia and the Asia-Pacific 

22 November 2024

 

BIOGRAPHIES

PROFESSOR SHARON BESSELL, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Sharon Bessell is a Professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy at The Australian National University. She is the director of the Children’s Policy Centre and from 2017 to 2024 was co-host of Policy Forum Pod. Sharon is currently leading More for Children, a program of research aiming to understand and ultimately end child poverty. She has published widely on children, human rights and social policy, rights-based research methodologies and research ethics.

PROFESSOR CLAIRE BREEN, UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO

Claire Breen is a Professor of Law at the University of Waikato (Aotearoa New Zealand). She has published extensively on the law of children’s rights; age discrimination being a key theme of her research focus. Her key publications include The Standard of the Best Interests of the Child (Brill, 2002) and Age Discrimination and Children’s Rights (Brill, 2006). She was published in the Human Rights Quarterly, International Journal of Children’s Rights, and Harvard Human Rights Journal, as well as in several edited collections. She has twice been the recipient of New Zealand Law Foundation research funding which have supported her wider research interests and the publication of her 2017 monograph Economic and Social Rights and the Maintenance of International Peace and Security (Routledge), and Gillespie, A., & Breen, C. (2022). People, Power, and Law: A New Zealand History (Hart).

PROFESSOR JUDY CASHMORE, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

Judy Cashmore PhD M Ed AO is Professor of Social Legal Research and Policy at Sydney Law School, and Professorial Research Fellow in the Research Centre for Children and Families at the University of Sydney, Australia. Her research concerns children’s experience of and involvement in family law, child protection and criminal proceedings and other processes where decisions are made about their lives – and the implications for law, social policy and practice. In particular, the focus has been on the experience and outcomes of children in out-of-home care, as care leavers, as child witnesses in child sexual assault proceedings and in families where the parents have separated and are working out the child’s time with both parents.

PAUL CLARK, eSAFETY COMMISIONER’S OFFICE

Paul Clark is Executive Manager of the Education, Prevention and Inclusion Branch (EPI) at the eSafety Commissioner.  Prior to this role, Paul lead eSafety’s Diverse Communities team.

Paul is responsible for overseeing the development and delivery of programs designed to help Australians to have safer and more positive experiences online. He leads the Branch in working with key sectors and communities to design and deliver educational materials and programs, build user capability and develop resilience through training programs and awareness raising.

Paul joined eSafety in 2017 with experience working on domestic and international initiatives that create social benefit.  He has worked across the corporate, not-for-profit and government sectors. Paul is committed to education and prevention programs with a focus on the positive impact technology plays in peoples’ lives.

DR MEDA COUZENS, WESTERN SYDNEY UNIVERSITY

Meda Couzens is a lecturer in the School of Law, Western Sydney University, Australia. She is also a research fellow with the School of Law, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where she taught previously. Meda worked as a legal practitioner in Romania, and then as an academic in South Africa and Australia. She has written about children’s rights from a variety of perspectives, including international law, comparative law, constitutional law, family law, human rights law and administrative law. 

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR HOLLY DOEL-MACKAWAY, MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY

Dr Holly Doel-Mackaway is a socio-legal academic at Macquarie University Law School in Sydney and has been working in the children’s rights field for 25 years as a lawyer, social worker and academic. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on international children’s rights law, children’s participation, child protection, Indigenous children’s rights, juvenile justice and girls’ rights. Before becoming an academic Holly worked as a children’s rights lawyer across 20 countries in the Asia-Pacific region with UNICEF, Save the Children and the NSW Department of Community Services. Holly also operates a child rights consulting practice providing children’s rights research, training, legislative and policy advice nationally and internationally. Prior to becoming a lawyer Holly worked as a social worker with women and children who had experienced domestic violence and sexual abuse.

PROFESSOR CLAIRE FENTON-GLYNN, MONASH UNIVERSITY

Professor Claire Fenton-Glynn is a Professor of Law at the University of Monash, Australia. She was previously the Professor of Child and Family Law at the University of Cambridge, and Director of Cambridge Family Law.

Claire’s research lies in the field of children’s rights, comparative law and international human rights law. She has published on a wide range of issues including parenthood (especially international surrogacy), child trafficking and gender identity. Her first book, Children's Rights in Intercountry Adoption was awarded the Inner Temple Book Prize for New Authors, as well as the Cambridge Faculty of Law's Yorke Prize, and her second book, Children and the European Court of Human Rights was published in 2021 by OUP. Claire's work has been cited by the UK Supreme Court, the England and Wales Court of Appeal, the Law Commission of England and Wales, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children.

JACQUELINE FREDMAN, OMBUDSMAN NSW

Jacqueline was appointed Deputy Ombudsman, Complaints and Resolution in April 2022. She was a senior executive in the Commonwealth public sector for the previous 9 years, including Chief Corporate Officer (and previously Divisional Registrar) at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. She has previously worked as the Manager, Assessments at the ICAC. As a lawyer, she has worked in private practice and as a member of the NSW Bar.

As Deputy Ombudsman (Complaints & Resolution), Jacqueline leads the Complaints and Resolution Branch, responsible for handling and resolving complaints and inquiries relating to public authorities and community services.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR FAITH GORDON, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Dr Faith Gordon is an Associate Professor at the ANU College of Law, Australian National University. She is the Director of the Interdisciplinary International Youth Justice Network and was the co-founder of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology's Thematic Group on children, young people, and the criminal justice system. She is an Associate Research Fellow at the Information Law and Policy Centre, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. In 2022, Faith was awarded the ANU’s  Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Influential Impact and Engagement and a Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning at the Excellence in Education Awards. Faith’s publications on lifelong anonymity and pre-charge identification of minors in the digital age, including her research on police release of children’s images has been referred to by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (2015), in the Northern Ireland High Court, the UK Court of Appeal (2019) and the Youth Court in Aotearoa New Zealand (2021). Faith's research on online harms was referred to by the UK Joint Committee on Draft Online Safety Bill, House of Lords (2021) and she was an academic advisor commissioned to be part of a key report for the Department of Media, Culture and Sport in the UK, entitled: ‘Qualitative research project to investigate the impact of online harms on children’ (2023).

COMMISSIONER ANNE HOLLONDS, AUSTRALIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

Anne Hollonds is Australia’s National Children’s Commissioner, a role based at the Australian Human Rights Commission. The National Children’s Commissioner monitors policy and legislation to ensure that the human rights of children are protected and promoted, and provides advice to government.

Formerly Director of the Australian Institute of Family Studies, for 23 years Anne was Chief Executive of government and non-government organisations focused on research, policy and practice in child and family wellbeing. As a psychologist Anne has worked extensively in frontline practice, including in child protection; domestic, family and sexual violence; mental health; child and family counselling; parenting education; and family law counselling. 

Anne currently contributes to numerous expert advisory groups and boards. Her report ‘Help Way Earlier!’ How Australia can transform child justice to improve safety and wellbeing’ was tabled in the Australian Parliament in August 2024.

COMMISSIONER NATALIE LEWIS, QUEENSLAND FAMILY AND CHILD COMMISSION

Natalie Lewis is a Gamilaraay woman and the Commissioner of the Queensland Family and Child Commission. Natalie is fiercely committed to progressing a transformational reform agenda to strengthen Queensland’s focus on children’s rights. Her passion for children’s rights is inspired by the experiences of children and young people disadvantaged by the systems designed to protect them, especially those in statutory child and youth justice systems.

Natalie has dedicated her career to improving life outcomes for First Nations Peoples across Australia and is deeply committed to addressing the systemic and structural issues that disproportionately affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families. She has led significant national reform across Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child protection and family services sectors, playing an instrumental role in the implementation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle in Australian child protection legislation. She is a strong advocate for protecting the right of First Nations People to exercise self-determination and to remain meaningfully connected to kin, culture and Country.

Natalie has held senior executive roles in the Queensland Government, the advocacy sector and been appointed to numerous national boards and councils.

PROFESSOR TON LIEFAARD, LEIDEN UNIVERSITY

Prof. Dr. Ton Liefaard is Professor of Children’s Rights and holds the UNICEF Chair in Children’s Rights at Leiden University in the Netherlands. He is the Head of the Department of Child Law and Health Law at Leiden Law School and served as Vice Dean of Leiden Law School from 2018 until 2023. 

Ton Liefaard teaches and publishes widely on issues related to international children’s rights, juvenile justice, child friendly justice, deprivation of liberty of children, violence against children and access to justice for children. He has initiated the Leiden Children’s Rights Observatory, an open access platform for children’s rights commentaries on the jurisprudence of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and other relevant international bodies. He has also led the development of the platform Children’s Rights Legislative Reform (2024) which provides law reform guidance to States Parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). This platform has been developed in partnership with UNICEF and University College Cork.

Ton Liefaard regularly works as a consultant for international organizations. He has been a member of the International Advisory Board of the United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty. He has also served as an advisor to the Dutch government on child-related matters.

JUSTICE VUI CLARENCE NELSON, SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA

A born and bred Samoan matai, Justice Vui is currently serving as the Senior Judge of the Supreme Court of Samoa. He has been a judiciary reformer and tireless advocate of human and environmental rights throughout his career, particularly on behalf of women and child victims. In 2008 he was instrumental in the creation of the first Pacific-model Young Offenders Act and Community Justice Act. He established the Samoa Youth Court and played a key role in setting up the Olomanu Centre providing young people in conflict with the law an opportunity to develop new skills and reintegrate into society.

In 2013 he became the first Pacific Islander to be appointed to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva where he was part of the Working Group on the historic 2021 Childrens Climate Case that found that countries could be held responsible for the negative effects of carbon emissions emanating from its territory, on the rights of children both within and outside of its boundaries (the principle of international trans-boundary harm). 

Justice Nelson is a graduate of the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, NZ which recently awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Laws in recognition of his work as a judicial trailblazer and international advocate. When conferring the Award, UC Faculty of Law Dean Professor John Page acknowledged that “throughout his career, Justice Nelson has fostered the values of the rule of law and pursuit of justice. He has demonstrably contributed to the well-being and betterment of society in Samoa, the Pacific and beyond”.  Justice Nelson continues his long service to Samoa, the Pacific and its people.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR NOAM PELEG, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Noam Peleg is an Associate Professor and Director – Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at the Faculty of Law and Justice, University of New South Wales. Noam's work in international children’s rights law, human rights law, childhood studies, and family law. His latest research has focused on questions of identity, development, paternalism and childhood. His book The Child’s Right to Development was published by Cambridge University Press in 2019. Together with the Diplomacy Training Programme (DTP) and Youth Law Australia Noam has established the “Monitoring Children’s Rights Capacity Building Programme’ and he is a board member of the DTP Since 2023. Noam has been on the editorial board of the International Journal of Children’s Rights since 2013 and is the Journal’s Book Review Editor since 2018. In 2020 he was Visiting Professor at Columbia Law School (NYC). Before moving to academia, Noam practiced law in several human rights NGOs.

PROFESSOR NICOLA TAYLOR, UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO

Nicola Taylor is the Professor of Family Law and Director of the Children’s Issues Centre in the Faculty of Law at the University of Otago in New Zealand. She also holds the Alexander McMillan Leading Thinker Chair in Childhood Studies. Nicola has qualifications in both law and social work, a PhD, has been admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand, and is a qualified mediator. She is a leading socio-legal researcher and has undertaken many studies with children, parents and professionals on family law and children’s rights issues including post-separation care arrangements, relocation, international child abduction, children’s views and participation, child-inclusive practice, family dispute resolution, children’s citizenship and nation-building, children’s identity issues in international family law contexts, relationship property division and succession law. Nicola’s research findings have been invaluable in informing legislative, legal policy and professional practice developments within New Zealand and internationally.

PROFESSOR AMANDA THIRD, WESTERN SYDNEY UNIVERSITY

Professor Amanda Third is Professorial Research Fellow in Digital Social and Cultural Research in the Institute for Culture and Society and Co-Director of the Young and Resilient Research Centre at Western Sydney University; and Research Stream Co-Lead in the Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies (Deakin; Western Sydney University and Victoria University).

An international expert in user-centred, participatory research, her work investigates children's and young people's technology practices, focusing on marginalised groups and rights-based approaches. She has led child-centred projects to understand children's and young people's experiences of the digital age in 68 countries, working with partners across corporate, government and not-for-profit sectors. She is committed to working with communities to generate research that can be activated for effective policy and practice.

PROFESSOR JOHN TOBIN, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

Professor John Tobin holds the Francine V McNiff Chair in International Human Rights Law at Melbourne Law School where he is the Director of the Human Rights Program. He has taught and researched in the field of children’s rights for 25 years and is the editor of the award winning The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: A Commentary (OUP 2019).

MAGISTRATE ALISON VINEY, CHILDREN’S COURT NSW

Tamara Walsh is a Professor of Law and Director (and Founder) of the UQ Pro Bono Centre. She has degrees in both Law and Social Work, and her interest is in social welfare law and human rights. Her research examines the impact of the law on vulnerable people including children and young people, people experiencing homelessness, people with disabilities, and people who are criminalised. Her research has spanned 20 years and has been widely published, both in Australia and internationally. In 2020, Tamara (with Caxton Legal Centre) established the UQ/Caxton Human Rights Project and is currently undertaking an ARC Linkage project on human rights dispute resolution in Australia (2023-2025). Tamara also runs the UQ Law School’s clinical legal education program.

PROFESSOR TAMARA WALSH, UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND

Tamara Walsh is a Professor of Law and Director (and Founder) of the UQ Pro Bono Centre. She has degrees in both Law and Social Work, and her interest is in social welfare law and human rights. Her research examines the impact of the law on vulnerable people including children and young people, people experiencing homelessness, people with disabilities, and people who are criminalised. Her research has spanned 20 years and has been widely published, both in Australia and internationally. In 2020, Tamara (with Caxton Legal Centre) established the UQ/Caxton Human Rights Project and is currently undertaking an ARC Linkage project on human rights dispute resolution in Australia (2023-2025). Tamara also runs the UQ Law School’s clinical legal education program.

HELEN WODAK, OMBUDSMAN NSW

Helen is the Deputy Ombudsman, Monitoring and Review, and has been working with the Ombudsman NSW office since 2013, when she joined as Principal Investigator in the former Community Services Division. Helen then headed the Public Interest Disclosures team, before being appointed as Acting Deputy Ombudsman, Projects and Systemic Reviews Branch in August 2021. Prior to joining the Ombudsman NSW office, Helen worked with the NSW Department of Attorney General and Justice, and with the Northern Aboriginal Justice Agency in Darwin.

As Deputy Ombudsman, Monitoring and Review, Helen leads and directs the Monitoring and Review Branch. This branch is responsible for statutory functions related to the review of the deaths of children and convening the NSW Child Death Review Team; and monitoring and inquiring into the delivery of community services.

Children’s Rights Symposium for Australia and the Asia-Pacific 

22 November 2024

 

ABSTRACTS

PROFESSOR SHARON BESSELL, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Children’s Human Rights and Poverty in Australia – 35 years of the UNCRC

Poverty is among the most widespread violations of children’s human rights. In Australia, 1 in 6 children live in income poverty. Our recent research with children growing up in poverty in Australia indicates that poverty is multidimensional, and impacts on children’s human rights beyond material disadvantage. This paper provides an overview of policy responses (and non-responses) and public narratives around child poverty in Australia since 1989. It highlights the consistent lack of attention to the ways in which poverty violates children’s human rights, ad highlights the ways in which policy responses have exacerbated rights violations. Finally, it canvasses the potential of a legislative approach to reducing, and ultimately ending, child poverty in Australia.  

PROFESSOR CLAIRE BREEN, UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO, NEW ZEALAND

Children's Rights in Aotearoa New Zealand are under pressure: (How) can the CRC's complaints mechanism help?

Children’s rights are under pressure in Aotearoa New Zealand. Some of this pressure stems from wider long-standing attitudes towards children, and the responses of varying governments as they sought to discharge their responsibilities to the children of Aotearoa New Zealand. This paper will briefly touch on a number of examples of where Aotearoa New Zealand children have been – and continue to be – let down by the State. Recent comments from the CRC Committee and the Universal Periodic Review regarding Aotearoa New Zealand’s progress will be used to frame on-going concerns around children and their rights, such as the abuse of children in care, the up-lifting of pēpi Māori (Māori infants), youth crime and the minimum age of criminal responsibility, child poverty, poor socio-economic outcomes, the voting age, and climate change. The recent legislative change in the responsibility for monitoring children’s rights will also be considered. The paper will then explore Aotearoa New Zealand’s ratification of the CRC’s Complaints mechanism, and the extent to which ratification will be able to make a tangible difference to the issues that children face (such as those indicated in the introduction to the paper), and their rights in that regard. A key initial question is the extent of awareness that the Third Optional Protocol has been ratified, and how Aotearoa New Zealand's obligations can be implemented in a legal system that may not be adequately orientated towards ensuring the implementation of children’s rights.

PAUL CLARK, EXECUTIVE MANAGER OF EDUCATION, PREVENTION & INCLUSION, eSAFETY COMMISSIONER’s OFFICE

Navigating online safety: A child rights perspective

In this presentation, Paul will discuss how eSafety’s work aligns with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, focusing on what eSafety calls its three key pillars: Prevention, Protection, and Proactive and Systemic Change. Highlighting innovative programs such as online safety training for out-of-home care professionals and resources for protecting children from online sexual abuse, Paul will outline eSafety’s commitment to upholding children’s rights to information, education, and safety.

Paul will also share recent research on children’s social media usage and discuss the complexities of age restrictions on digital platforms. He will talk about the eSafety Youth Council, showcasing how young voices are shaping policies and solutions in Australia. Additionally, Paul will touch on eSafety’s work with other Australian regulators through the Digital Platform Regulators Forum, emphasising a holistic approach to children’s rights in the digital environment.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR HOLLY DOEL-MACKAWAY, MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY

Decolonising children’s participation in public decision-making in Australia: Rethinking article 12 of the CRC

Drawing on Indigenous children’s contexts in Australia Dr Holly Doel-Mackaway will analyse the reasons why decolonising children’s participation is necessary and desirable. Holly will also discuss the model for children’s participation that she co-designed through fieldwork with Indigenous children. She will argue that foregrounding Indigenous children’s lived experience and knowledge is imperative for moving the children’s rights agenda forward, both in theory and practice.

PROFESSOR CLAIRE FENTON-GLYNN, MONASH UNIVERSITY

A Child Rights Act for Australia

Australia is a human rights lacuna. Despite several attempts to include rights in the Australian constitution by referenda, the only human rights legislation remains at state level, and even then, only in three (of eight) jurisdictions. Yet in recent years, there has been a huge step forward through the proposal of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights for a federal Human Rights Act. 

This paper will consider the JPCHR proposal, and the way in which it conceptualises and protects children’s rights. In particular it will emphasise why a general Human Rights Act – even with a specific clause on children’s rights – cannot be enough for ensuring children’s rights are fully respected, protected, and provided for.

DEPUTY OMBUDSMAN JACQUELINE FREDMAN AND DEPUTY OMBUDSMAN HELEN WODAK, OMBUDSMAN NSW

The NSW Ombudsman’s Office and its child-centred approach to its functions

The NSW Ombudsman has a broad range of functions which relate to children. It receives and manages complaints about local and state government agencies and some community services providers. Complaints can be made by or concern children and young people in a range of contexts, including the public education, youth justice, housing and out-of-home-care systems. The Ombudsman has two functions relating to the deaths of children. The Ombudsman convenes and supports the Child Death Review Team (CDRT), which includes a range of experts and whose role is to prevent or reduce the deaths of children in NSW. Ombudsman also conducts detailed reviews of children who were living in care or had been in detention at the time of their death, and/or died as a result of abuse or neglect, or in circumstances suspicious of abuse or neglect. The Ombudsman monitors and reviews the delivery of community services, which includes child protection, out-of-home care and early intervention services and conducts reviews of children or groups of children in care. In these various complaint handling, investigative and oversight functions, the Ombudsman aims to take a child-centred approach which safeguards the rights and wellbeing of children.

COMMISSIONER ANNE HOLLONDS, NATIONAL CHILDREN’S COMMISSIONER, AUSTRALIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

The human rights of Australia’s children – addressing the barriers to action

Australia ratified the UN CRC 34 years ago, however it seems that we are not taking seriously our obligations for the human rights of children. The barriers to acting on decades of evidence are rarely discussed. This presentation will address some of the key barriers and how we can overcome them.

PROFESSOR TON LIEFAARD, LEIDEN UNIVERSITY, THE NETHERLANDS

Children’s Rights at Crossroads: How do children's rights hold up in the 21st Century?

Ton Liefaard’s keynote address takes the significance of international children’s rights for children around the world and across generations as its starting point. Building on the lessons learned over the past 35 years, Ton Liefaard reflects on how to uphold the rights and freedoms of all children in a time frame in which the human rights narrative is constantly challenged and in which respect for the rights and freedoms of every human being no longer seems self-evident. He will specifically address the persisting and at points increasing ‘justice gap’ children suffer from, which essentially revolves around a lack of accountability towards the children of today and tomorrow. With the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child celebrating its 35th Anniversary, children’s rights find themselves at crossroads. How do children's rights hold up in the 21st Century?

PROFESSOR AMANDA THIRD, CO-DIRECTOR YOUNG AND RESILIENT RESEARCH CENTRE, WESTERN SYDNEY UNIVERSITY

Child participation in research on children’s digital technology practices in the Asia Pacific

In September 2014, the UN held a General Day of Discussion on the subject of ‘Children’s rights and digital media’. Since then, drawing on the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), rights-based approaches to the governance of children’s digital media practices have played a prominent role in the debates and decision making processes internationally. The importance of drawing on the Convention to guide states to address the risks of harm and the opportunities of ‘the digital’ gained significant momentum with the production of UNCRC General Comment 25 on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment (2021), which provides evidence-based, principled guidance to states about how to interpret the Convention for the digital age. Alongside their protection rights, GC25 asserts the importance of children’s participation in realising their rights in relation to existing and emerging technology trends.

This presentation reflects on the implementation of GC25 in the Asia Pacific region, with a specific focus on the modalities for realising children’s participation rights. Through a series of short case studies, the presentation gestures the diversity of challenges raised by children’s interactions in the digital environment, highlighting both the commonalities and the divergences across different cultural contexts. The paper argues that paying close attention to cultural dynamics and specificities will be vital if governments, NGOs and the private sector are to genuinely advance the rights of children across the region.

PROFESSOR JOHN TOBIN, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

Looking Forward – What do the next 35 years hold for children’s rights?

For some scholars, the CRC is seen to be outdated and ineffective. For others it is a powerful tool to shape and inform policies and practices concerning children.  As we look to the future, which vision will prevail? This presentation explores those factors that will impact the answer to this question. It offers a vision of cautious optimism and suggests that if certain measures are taken, the legacy of the CRC when it turns 70 will be far more worthy of celebration than despair and disappointment.  

MAGISTRATE ALISON VINEY, CHILDREN’S COURT NSW

The CRC and the work of the Children’s Court of NSW

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child is a key international instrument that is often reflected in the various workings of the Children’s Court of NSW.  One such area is the care and protection jurisdiction of the Court, which concerns the safety, welfare and wellbeing of children and young people under the age of 18 years. In assessing what is in the best interests of a young person and making court orders to safeguard them, the various articles of the Convention are reflected. This is within both the legislative frameworks as well as in practice.

PROFESSOR TAMARA WALSH, UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND

Children’s rights and human rights acts in Australia

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child may be the most ratified human rights treaty, but in Australia, children’s rights remain under-enforced. Children’s right to protection, their right to education, and their rights in criminal proceedings have been ratified in Australian state and territory human rights Acts, yet children’s rights continue to be overridden, both literally and practically. In this paper, I will discuss the relevance of rights-based arguments in children’s matters, focusing on child protection, education and youth justice. I will contrast the relevant case law on these topics with the emerging case law on working with children checks, where children’s rights are also relevant. It will be seen that arguments about children’s rights seem to be taken more seriously in cases where the parties are adults than when the parties are children. This tends to suggest that children’s rights may be used by adults to serve their own ends, whilst vulnerable children remain unprotected, and sometimes even dehumanised, in other contexts.  

Keynote Speakers

Commissioner Anne Hollonds, the National Children's Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission

Anne Hollonds is Australia’s National Children’s Commissioner, a role based at the Australian Human Rights Commission.

The National Children’s Commissioner monitors policy and legislation to ensure that the human rights of children are protected and promoted, and provides advice to government.

Formerly Director of the Australian Institute of Family Studies, for 23 years Anne was Chief Executive of government and non-government organisations focused on research, policy and practice in child and family wellbeing.

As a psychologist Anne has worked extensively in frontline practice, including in child protection; domestic, family and sexual violence; mental health; child and family counselling; parenting education; and family law counselling.

Anne currently contributes to numerous expert advisory groups and boards. Her report ‘Help Way Earlier!’ How Australia can transform child justice to improve safety and wellbeing’ was tabled in the Australian Parliament in August 2024.

Commissioner Natalie Lewis, Queensland Family and Child Commission

Natalie Lewis is a Gamilaraay woman and the Commissioner of the Queensland Family and Child Commission.

Natalie is fiercely committed to progressing a transformational reform agenda to strengthen Queensland’s focus on children’s rights. Her passion for children’s rights is inspired by the experiences of children and young people disadvantaged by the systems designed to protect them, especially those in statutory child and youth justice systems.

Natalie has dedicated her career to improving life outcomes for First Nations Peoples across Australia and is deeply committed to addressing the systemic and structural issues that disproportionately affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families. She has led significant national reform across Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child protection and family services sectors, playing an instrumental role in the implementation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle in Australian child protection legislation. She is a strong advocate for protecting the right of First Nations People to exercise self-determination and to remain meaningfully connected to kin, culture and Country.

Natalie has held senior executive roles in the Queensland Government, the advocacy sector and been appointed to numerous national boards and councils.

Justice Vui Clarence Nelson, Supreme Court of Samoa and former member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

A born and bred Samoan matai, Justice Vui is currently serving as the Senior Judge of the Supreme Court of Samoa. He has been a judiciary reformer and tireless advocate of human and environmental rights throughout his career, particularly on behalf of women and children. In 2008 he was instrumental in the creation of the first Pacific-model Young Offenders Act and Community Justice Act. He established the Samoa Youth Court and played a key role in setting up the Olomanu Centre providing young people in conflict with the law an opportunity to develop new skills and reintegrate into society.

In 2013 he became the first Pacific Islander to be appointed to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva where he was part of the Working Group on the historic 2021 Childrens Climate Case.

Justice Nelson is a graduate of the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, NZ which recently awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Laws in recognition of his work as a judicial trailblazer and international advocate.  Justice Nelson continues his long service to Samoa, the Pacific and its people.

Professor Ton Liefaard, Leiden Law School

Prof. Dr. Ton Liefaard is Professor of Children’s Rights and holds the UNICEF Chair in Children’s Rights at Leiden University in the Netherlands. He is the Head of the Department of Child Law and Health Law at Leiden Law School and served as Vice Dean of Leiden Law School from 2018 until 2023.

Ton Liefaard teaches and publishes widely on issues related to international children’s rights, juvenile justice, child friendly justice, deprivation of liberty of children, violence against children and access to justice for children. He has initiated the Leiden Children’s Rights Observatory, an open access platform for children’s rights commentaries on the jurisprudence of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and other relevant international bodies. He has also led the development of the platform Children’s Rights Legislative Reform (2024) which provides law reform guidance to States Parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). This platform has been developed in partnership with UNICEF and University College Cork.

Ton Liefaard regularly works as a consultant for international organizations. He has been a member of the International Advisory Board of the United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty. He has also served as an advisor to the Dutch government on child-related matters.

Keynote Discussant

Professor John Tobin, University of Melbourne, Keynote Discussant

Professor John Tobin holds the Francine V McNiff Chair in International Human Rights Law at Melbourne Law School where he is the Director of the Human Rights Program. He has taught and researched in the field of children’s rights for 25 years and is the editor of the award winning The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: A Commentary (OUP 2019).

Event Info

Date: Friday, 22 November 2024

Time: 8:30am - 6:00pm

Location:
Western Sydney University Parramatta South Campus
Conference Rooms 22, 23 & 36
Building EZ, The Female Orphan School
Corner of James Ruse Drive and Victoria Road
Rydalmere NSW 2116

Register by 8 November 2024.

Contact Person: Dr Meda Couzens (m.couzens@westernsydney.edu.au)