Submission to the Social Justice Commissioner: Informing the Agenda

For 40 years SNAICC has advocated for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. We welcome the opportunity to provide a submission to inform the shaping of the Social Justice Commissioner’s forward agenda.

SNAICC is highly supportive of the six high-level goals outlined by the Commissioner:

1. To promote the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
2. To provide advocacy and guidance on the implementation of the three pillars of the Uluru Statement from the Heart—Voice, Treaty, Truth
3. To increase Access to Justice for First Nations communities
4. To support the realisation of First Nations health equality
5. To provide advocacy and guidance to progress Land Justice Reform
6. To build the capacity of the First Nations Human Rights Network

The rights, needs and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are critical to not only their wellbeing, but also to building strong and connected culture and communities.

SNAICC’s submission focuses on ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children remain visible in the Social Justice Commissioner’s agenda through targeted activity that complements existing work across government and the community controlled sector.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s rights include those owed to all children as well as their unique rights as Indigenous Peoples. These rights are drawn from international human rights frameworks.

The rights of all children are set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and are specific to children, their contexts, and needs. The convention contains 54 articles and is based on four core principles:

• Non-discrimination
• Devotion to the best interests of the child
• The right to life, survival and development and
• Respect for the views of the child.

The UNCRC also contains articles that are especially important to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children such as the right to enjoy their culture, and to learn and use the language and customs of their Indigenous Nations. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children also have rights under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The articles under UNDRIP include rights to lands, to maintain language and culture and participate in decision making.

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has provided important guidance on how it should be implemented to protect the rights of Indigenous children. This guidance reaffirms that the active protection of Indigenous children’s rights requires dedicated attention and the application of special measures. In its General Comment 11, the guidance of the Committee included that:

• Special measures should be taken through legislation and policy in consultation with Indigenous communities to protect the rights of Indigenous children;
• Legislation should apply the principle of non-discrimination to protect Indigenous children against discrimination
• Special measures should be applied to ensure Indigenous children “have access to culturally appropriate services in the areas of health, nutrition, education, recreation and sports, social services, housing, sanitisation and juvenile justice”
• The best interests of the child is a collective and individual right, and its application to Indigenous children requires consideration of collective cultural rights
• The best interests of an Indigenous child should be determined through the participation of the child’s Indigenous community
• Special strategies should be used to ensure the participation of Indigenous children in matters affecting them, including ensuring rights to representation and culturally appropriate interpretation
• Government should “ensure effective measures are implemented to safeguard the integrity of Indigenous families and communities by assisting them in their child-rearing responsibilities”

The Committee also provided guidance on special measures necessary to ensure Indigenous children’s rights are protected in areas such as health, education, and juvenile justice.

Even when there are policies and legislation in place designed to improve life outcomes or protect children’s rights, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children rarely enjoy these equitably. We need only to look at the shocking rates of overrepresentation in the child protection and youth justice systems as evidence of the systemic and institutional neglect of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s rights and wellbeing at both federal and state/territory levels.

There is a need for the Social Justice Commissioner’s agenda and activities to understand and reflect the unique rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and ensure that they align with the views and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. This can be supported through engagement with SNAICC as the National Peak Body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families, jurisdictional ACCO peaks that represent the child and family sector, jurisdictional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Commissioners and the soon to be established National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People.