Using the Convention in practice: A view from the Bar – Webinar Recording

This tenth webinar webinar looked at the opportunities to advance children’s rights using state based human rights charters, with a focus on Victoria. While these laws do not explicitly refer to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), this does not preclude use of the CRC, CRPD, General Comments and other UN instruments in judicial decision-making, judgments, and legal arguments.

The webinar continued on from the previous webinar in the series held in September, in which New Zealand Judge Tony Fitzgerald reflected on the benefits of applying the CRC (and CRPD) in achieving better outcomes for children and young people and on what using the CRC means for children, litigators, the police, social services and others working with children.

This webinar drew on the perspectives of barrister Michael Stanton and reader Katharine Brown, both from the Victorian Bar, exploring how the CRC and the Victorian Charter of Human Rights could be used in judicial proceedings. They shared their experiences in applying human rights-based arguments and discuss what could be done to enable or encourage reference to the CRC and the UN Committee’s Concluding Observations in cases, litigation and judgments.