• Australian Child Rights Task Force

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Report image: 'Listen to children'

22 July 2011Despite ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, this report finds that Australia has not effectively incorporated human rights into policy and legislative frameworks to nurture and support children.

Instead, successive governments have perpetuated a traditional welfare approach to children’s wellbeing and have not learned to listen to and work with children—to create child-sensitive bodies, systems and initiatives.

This report was developed following consultations with over 750 children and young people and over 100 organisations and subject matter experts, as well as liaison with the Australian Federal Government and the Australian Human Rights Commission.

The report is a comprehensive overview of Australia’s performance in relation to each article of the Convention. It is compiled every five years in response to the Australian Government’s report to the UN committee into child rights. The Listen to Children report aims to tell the ‘real story’ by bringing together submissions from advocacy and peak bodies concerned with the implementation of the child rights charter. It also brought together results from consultations with young people from around Australia including children at Larapinta Valley Town Camp, children in Alice Springs juvenile holding centre and through online survey platforms.

Report image: 'Listen to children', Youth participants in the UNICEF Australia health program, Alice Springs. © UNICEF Australia