Children and young people

It is now a little over ten years since the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) and the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (now the Australian Human Rights Commission) released the landmark report Seen and Heard: Priority for Children in the Legal Process(ALRC 84, 1997). Seen and Heard represented the culmination of a major two-year inquiry exploring how children and young people are treated by Australia’s legal system and Australia’s international obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In the wake of the tenth anniversary of this historic report, the ALRC today released Reform Issue 92, ‘Children and Young People’ which examines the current treatment of children and young people in the legal process, against the backdrop of the recommendations made in the ALRC and HREOC Report. ALRC President Professor Weisbrot said “The anniversary provides a timely opportunity to review the impact of the Report—including the extent of any implementation by the Commonwealth, states or territories—as well as to explore current issues and controversies”. Articles in this edition of Reform address over a dozen key areas for consideration including: * the rights and life chances of Indigenous children; * the changes made to the Family Court and the family law system over the last decade—and the positive outcomes for children and young people in family dispute resolution and legal proceedings; * the changing legal framework for inter-country adoption; * the effectiveness of the legal process in protecting children and young people as consumers; * bullying and violence against young people in the workplace; and * the legal, social and ethical issues associated with genetic testing of minors. This report is currently only available for puchase from the ALRC site