Credit Points 10

Coordinator Meda Couzens Opens in new window

Description Children’s Rights: Local and International provides students with the opportunity to critically analyse the rights of children at domestic and international level. Students will examine the rationale and the development of children’s rights as well as the international and the Australian legal framework for their protection. Selected topics discussed in more detail are juvenile justice; families and child protection; First Nations children and the law; the exploitation of children; access to justice and governance (domestic and international) and the rights of children. The subject develops multidisciplinary approaches to socio-legal issues and provides opportunities to apply analytical and research skills to special interest projects involving international and comparative legal materials.

School Law

Discipline Law, Not Elsewhere Classified.

Student Contribution Band HECS Band 4 10cp

Check your HECS Band contribution amount via the Fees page.

Level Postgraduate Coursework Level 5 subject

Pre-requisite(s) LAWS 7048 Criminal Law AND
LAWS 7057 Government and Public Law AND
LAWS 7027 Legal Philosophy and Methodology AND

Incompatible Subjects LAWS 3089 Children’s Rights Local and International

Restrictions

Students must be enrolled in program Juris Doctor (2826) to register in this subject.

Learning Outcomes

1. Critically analyse the historical, moral and legal foundation of children’s rights 
2. Evaluate the domestic and international legal and institutional frameworks for the protection of the rights of children, including First Nations children
3. Critically review the multifaceted nature of law and policy relating to children’s rights, their connections with other areas of professional legal practice and the importance of multidisciplinary for their protection
4. Apply legal analysis and research skills to international and comparative material on children’s rights.

Subject Content

1. Development and theoretical aspects in relation to children’s rights
2. Introduction to the international framework for the protection of children’s rights (UN, regional systems, non-Western approaches)
3. Introduction to children’s rights protection in Australia (sources of children’s rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Australian law; main children’s rights challenges in Australia)
4. Children and criminal justice
5. Children, family and the state
6. The exploitation of children
7. Children and information technology
8. First Nations children and the law
9. Children and access to justice (domestic and international)
10. Governance (domestic and international) and the rights of children