Children & Young People

Rights of Children & Young People

Children have always been gifts to humanity. From the point of their birth, till they become old enough to stand independent, they should be treasured. This is why it is important to give an incredible amount of focus on children & young people.

With regards to human rights, the fact that we have a set of people who are still young does not exclude the obligation to respect their rights. Children, as well as young people, are humans, and they have human rights just as an average adult–though with some limitations. The point, however, remains that their right should be respected at all point in time.

For us, at New South Wales Communities Legal Centres, children & young people are part of our focus. We are concerned about the enforcement and respect of the rights of these set of people. And we believe that they should be respected as well as we all respect the rights of adults.

Particularly, since these children & young people are still tender, there are heavier obligations to ensure that their rights are properly catered for.

We place reliance on the UN Convention on Child’s Rights and different municipal laws. We also consider other relevant international laws and treaties to champion the call for the respect of the rights of children & young people.

Our attention is often directed to people that are below the age of eighteen. These are the people that are considered young under the law.

In attending to these people, we tailor our services in the following areas;

Adherence To Law on Children & Young People

We use our service provision to advocate adherence to the principles of the respect of children rights. We do this by championing the fundamental freedoms and rights of the children & young people. On this, we push for more people to abide by the dictates of the UN Convention on Child’s Rights and other relevant laws. We also advocate that all support, service and interventions relating to children be culturally appropriate.

Legal Representation

We recognise that children often face issues that touch on their evolving capacity and that require legal representation to have their voice heard and demands met. This is why we provide independent representation to children & young people in courts.

Children & Young People’s Participation

Throughout the world, there is a need for the voices of all set of people to be heard in platforms of decision making. We recognise this and continually push for the reflection of the opinions of the children & young people in decisions and policies. This is important, especially in areas that the decisions and policies would affect the children & young people in any way.

Early Intervention

Through our services, we push for the early intervention & prevention to assist and support children & young people who may be predisposed to doing alcohol and drug, or who may be getting homeless. We also push for an early diagnosis for children & young people who may have issues with mental health or disability.

Lastly, we push for young people’s entitlement in their engagement in society on equal stance with their age groups.