Addressing Poverty: Children’s rights and Australia’s obligations

This is the fourth in a series of webinars bringing together practitioners and academic experts to develop greater knowledge and understanding of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and its implementation in Australia. Poverty impacts on children’s rights in specific ways. In the context of recommendations from UN member states at the Universal Periodic Review and those contained in the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), this webinar will examine how applying the CRC requires Australia to take concrete steps to address poverty.

Professor Philip Alston, the former Chair of the ESCR Committee and former Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, and Professor Sharon Bessell, Director of Gender Equity and Diversity and head of the Children’s Policy Centre at the ANU, will discuss the value of the CRC and human rights in understanding the impacts of and responses to poverty and how the UN treaty body recommendations are relevant at state and territory level.

NOTE: At least half an hour will be allocated for questions and answers, and comments

Speakers

Professor Philip Alston, NYU, former Special Rapporteur Director on extreme poverty and human rights.


Professor Sharon Bessell, ANU, Director of Gender Equity and Diversity and Head of the Children’s Policy Centre.

Moderators

Dr Noam Peleg, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law and Justice, UNSW, Book Review Editor, The International Journal of Children's Rights.


Associate Professor Faith Gordon, Deputy Associate Dean of Research, ANU College of Law, The Australian National University and Director of the International Youth Justice Network.

Who should attend

All welcome. The webinar will be of particular interest to:

• NGOs
• Federal, state and territory government officials interested in how to implement the CRC
• Indigenous rights advocates
• Children’s rights commissioners and staff
• Social and children’s services providers and practitioners
• Students and members of the public