"Australia can do better when it comes to protecting children’s rights"

President of the Australian Human Rights Commission Catherine Branson QC, has today reiterated her call for Australia to go further in protecting the fundamental human rights of children.

Delivering the annual ‘Rights of the Child’ lecture for Save the Children in Canberra tonight, President Branson said that in the nearly 20 years since Australia had ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, most children in Australia enjoyed the full range of human rights, but that significant groups of vulnerable children and young people still lacked adequate human rights protection.

“Australia can do a better job of protecting these children’s fundamental human rights,” Ms Branson said.

"Let us continue to strive for the world envisaged by Save the Children: a world in which every child has a healthy and safe childhood, the opportunity to learn and a voice to speak for themselves.”

In a thought-provoking speech, Ms Branson said that by ratifying the Convention Australia had promised to ensure the maximum survival and development of every child in Australia.

She said that despite most Australian children having universal access to free primary and secondary education, and most children in Australia having access to good primary health care, in too many areas Australia still had a long way to go to adequately protect the fundamental human right to survival and development.

“Overcoming Indigenous disadvantage, and thereby ensuring Indigenous children’s right to development, is one of Australia’s greatest and most pressing challenges,” Ms Branson said.

She said the government also had a pressing obligation to ensure the right to survival and development for children in Australia experiencing mental ill-health and those experiencing homelessness.

“Children with mental ill-health have reduced capacity to engage with schooling, to form and maintain positive relationships and have poorer long-term outcomes than those in good mental health,” she said.

She said it was also shameful that 12-18 year olds represented the largest group of people experiencing homelessness in Australia.

“Children have a particularly traumatic experience of homelessness. It disrupts schooling, family life, healthcare, nutrition, social networks and feelings of confidence and stability. An experience of homelessness as a child can also play into a cycle of intergenerational disadvantage,” she said.

Ms Branson said that establishing a national Children’s Commissioner would raise awareness of the importance of children’s rights and help to make consideration of children’s best interests a fundamental part of all government decision-making.

“Children are often voiceless in mainstream society and hold little power in our political processes,” she said.

“They are unable to vote, are less likely than adults to organise powerful lobby groups to advocate their opinions and influence decision-making, are rarely consulted in a meaningful way about decisions that will affect their lives and have less recourse to challenge decisions that adversely affect their interests.

“The relative powerlessness of children makes the protection of their rights all the more important.”

Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children in Australia, Suzanne Dvorak, said adults had a responsibility to speak out to assert the rights of children.

“But we also need to empower children to do this for themselves, by providing access to quality childhood development and education programs,’ Ms Dvorak said.

“The Rights of the Child lecture has provided an important opportunity to focus attention on what’s already been achieved, and the crucial steps that are yet to be taken in establishing and protecting the rights of children in Australia.”

To read the speech follow this link.

Media contact: Louise McDermott – (02) 9284 9851 or 0419 258 597