International Human Rights Law and the Needs of Indigenous Children

This chapter explores some of the ways in which international human rights law offers a framework within which Indigenous children and young people's welfare can be addressed. It considers how the re-characterisation of international law, from universal and transcendental to pluralising and inclusive, has been theoretically and practically relevant to Indigenous children and young people's rights. It focuses on Indigenous peoples' engagement with the United Nations in the context of evolving understandings of principles of selfdetermination as they relate to Indigenous children and young people. It explores these issues through two Australian-based case studies: the implementation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle (ATSICPP), with particular reference to the State of Victoria, and the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) in the Northern Territory