A Human Rights Act for NSW will benefit children
A Human Rights Act will help to create a fair, just and equal society for everyone. When human rights are protected by law we have a framework to ensure that we are all treated fairly, and with dignity, equality and respect.
Protections offered by a Human Rights Act will protect children and young people. Here we provide some examples of how Human Rights Accts in other places are improving the daily lives of children and young people.
Protecting child victim survivors
A young Victorian girl had been abused. Her advocates used the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act, and in particular the right to the protection of family and children, to argue that she shouldn’t be required to give evidence against the alleged perpetrators. They said that this right should be given proper consideration when determining whether a young person should be required to provide testimony. As a result the girl was not required to give evidence.
Source: Fitzroy Legal Service: Submission for Review of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006, in HRLC Charter in Action
Protecting the right to education for all children
A Victorian student with a learning disability was threatened expulsion by his school due to his behavioural issues. The advocate outlined to both the school itself and to the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development the student’s relevant human rights contained in the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act. As a result of the communication, the boy was provided with the supports, which reduced his behavioural issues and consequently, he was allowed to stay on at the school.
Source: Youth Affairs, Council of Victoria: Submission for Review of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 in HRLC Charter in Action
Protecting the right to liberty
A warrant for imprisonment was made in relation to a young single mother of two children who was at risk of homelessness. The young mother was facing imprisonment for defaulting on the payment of outstanding fines for infringement notices. The woman’s advocates applied for the matter to be relisted before a magistrate and relied on the right not to be arbitrarily deprived of liberty. This right is protected in the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act.
Source: Youthlaw’s submission to the Eight Year Review of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities.
Protecting children’s right to housing
Following the death of her father and incarceration of her mother, a 23 year old woman agreed to be the guardian of her three younger siblings. She maintained their public housing tenancy and had rental payments deducted from her Youth Allowance payments. While overseas on a study tour, her Youth Allowance was cancelled due to the discontinuation of her enrolment.
As a result she accrued significant arrears that she didn’t receive notice of. The Department of Housing applied for a possession order after having issued a notice to vacate. The woman’s advocates argued that the Department had failed to consider the rights of the young woman and her siblings protected in the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act. Instead of making a possession order, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal made an order that the young woman pay $10 per week towards her rental arrears in addition to her rent.
Source: Homeless Persons Legal Clinic: Submission for Review of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 in HRLC Charter in Action
After an Aboriginal woman with a disability, and her three children, were forced to vacate their social housing, the woman lodged a complaint regarding the length of time taken to arrange modifications to ensure she could shower and access the kitchen safely. The social housing provider settled the complaint by providing a financial sum and expressing their regret in the delay. The woman and her children were offered services and assistance to apply for safe and accessible accommodation.
Source: The First Annual Report on the Operation of Queensland’s Human Rights Act 2019-20, p. 137.
Protecting children’s right to family
The Office of the Public Guardian, a statutory office established to protect the rights and wellbeing of certain adults, children and young people, used the Queensland Human Rights Act in connection with the placement of two siblings in family-based care. The siblings were originally placed with the same family when one was moved to an alternative placement. Following this, and in speaking with the siblings, it became apparent that they were not having regular contact with each other. The Public Guardian considered this was contrary to the children’s rights under the Human Rights Act. After informal advocacy was not successful, the Public Guardian lodged a formal human rights complaint highlighting how the failure to ensure regular contact between the siblings breached the children’s human rights.
Source: The First Annual Report on the Operation of Queensland’s Human Rights Act 2019-20, p. 113.
A teenager on remand in youth detention wanted to see his family for his birthday but because of restrictions due to COVID-19, family visits were postponed at the centre. Through conciliation in the QLD Human Rights Commission, the detention centre and the young person’s mother agreed on a plan to maintain family contact during the pandemic. The young person talked to his family for one hour on a video call for his birthday, and once the restrictions eased his family was able to visit him in person.
Source: The First Annual Report on the Operation of Queensland’s Human Rights Act 2019-20, p. 134
Protecting children’s right to culture
Aboriginal children are over-represented in child protection systems and are often removed from their family and placed in the care of non-Aboriginal families. Victoria’s Commission for Children and Young People relied on the cultural rights obligations in the Charter to support its recommendations for government and community service organisations to better identify and record Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status in the child protection system and to make sure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care have meaningful access to their culture.
Source: Commission for Children and Young People, Always was, Always will be Koori children: Systemic inquiry into services provided to Aboriginal children and young people in out-of-home care in Victoria,
2016.
Which rights?
The case studies above show that many of the rights that protect adults have been used to protect the rights of children and young people. These rights come from the core United Nations human rights treaties - international laws that Australia has promised to uphold.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child provides a statement of rights that are particular to children. Rights to education, health, housing and culture are protected in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Rights, like the right to the protection of families or the right be treated humanely when deprived of liberty, come from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Many rights that apply to children are also drawn from other core treaties like the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities or the United Nations declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Human Rights Acts that have been working for decades to protect people in the ACT, Victoria and Queensland provide specific protections for children, for example:
They recognise the right of every child, without discrimination, to protection that is in their best interests.
They provide protections for children in the criminal justice system - for example protecting them from torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, recognising that, even if in prison, children have a right to family, to education and healthcare.
The ACT Human Rights Act and the Queensland Human Rights Act specifically include the right of every child to access free school education that is appropriate to their needs. The Queensland Human Rights Act also recognises that children and young people have a right to access further vocational education and training that is equally accessible to all and based on their abilities.
The Queensland Human Rights Act protects children’s right to access healthcare without discrimination.
In order for these rights to be realised for children in our state, they need to be protected in a Human Rights Act for New South Wales.