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Association of Women Educators Dinner

Children's Rights

 

1 Introduction

Welcome, everyone, to the Association of Women Educators annual dinner.

It is wonderful to see so many people here today.

Before I begin I would like to acknowledge the Jaggera (pronounced Yaggera) & Turrbull Peoples, the traditional owners of the place where we gather today, and pay my respects to elders past and present.

I would also like to make a special mention to Maria Delaney, Roselynne Anderson & Lesley McFarlane AM for inviting me to speak.

I am pleased to be here to talk to you today about the findings from our Big Banter 2013 listening tour. On this tour I spoke to many girls and young women about their experiences at school, and I will be sharing their stories and suggestions with you today. I will then conclude by giving a brief outline of the programs that we are currently undertaking that may be of particular benefit for girls and young mothers.

2 Role of the Commissioner

I would firstly like to speak briefly about my role as Australia’s first National Children’s Commissioner. My duties as the National Children’s Commissioner are set out in the Human Rights Commission Act.

As National Children’s Commissioner my role involves:

  • being a national advocate for the rights and interests of children, and educating children and the community about child rights;
  • developing and embedding mechanisms that ensure a focus on children’s interests, enable their participation in decisions that affect them, and promote the voices of children;
  • reviewing laws, policies and programs that impact on children; and monitoring children’s wellbeing and Australia’s progress in meeting its international obligations in respect of children.

I am also charged with submitting a yearly report to Parliament on children’s rights and wellbeing and making recommendations for reform.

3 CRC and participation of girls in education/society

The Convention on the Rights of the Child provides the main impetus for my work. The Convention is the most comprehensive international instrument for children’s rights protection. It establishes the various social, economic, political and civil rights afforded to children (defined to include every human being below the age of eighteen). The Australian government ratified this Convention in December 1990, and, in doing so, made a commitment to ensuring that the rights of Australia’s 5.5 million children and young people – just over half of whom are girls – have their rights upheld, and their voices heard and listened to.

The Convention is underpinned by four overarching principles:

• Non-discrimination (article 2)

• Best interests of the child (article 3)

• Right to life, survival and development (article 6)

• Respect for the views of the child (article 12).

Article 12 is significant as it includes not only the right for children to express their views freely in all matters that affect them, but the right to have their views treated seriously and be taken into account. It essentially provides that children should be active participants in relation to the issues that affect their lives. Article 12 is fundamental to my role as the Commissioner and I have made it my priority to listen to the views of children and their advocates.

Another notable provision is Article 28 of the Convention which places a special emphasis on the right of all children to education, and the importance of children being active players in the learning process rather than simply recipients of knowledge. Article 29 sets out the aims of education, including the development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and the development of the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential.

The connection between participation and education cannot be understated. Not only is it a tool for empowerment, it’s a path to increasing our knowledge about human rights, and the rights inherent to all of us. As an organisation that is committed to the full participation of girls and young women in education, you would appreciate first-hand the importance of encouraging our girls to be involved in any decision-making that could improve their quality of life.

In my work as the Commissioner I pay particular attention to the voices of young girls who are especially vulnerable to violence, neglect and abuse. I would like to highlight a few confronting facts regarding girls’ current levels of participation and experiences in Australia and in our global community:

  • Just under 66 million girls throughout the world are currently not in school – and that’s primary school.
  • Less than 50 per cent of girls complete primary school in most of the poorer countries.
  • Two thirds of the world’s illiterates are female.
  • Women and girls make up around 80 per cent of the world’s refugees.
  • 150 million girls under 18 have experienced rape or other forms of sexual abuse.

When you look at the facts, it is undeniable that girls continue to represent some of the world’s most vulnerable and marginalised people.

As a wealthy country, Australia has made great gains for women and children over the years. Girls benefit from universal access to primary and secondary education, relatively affordable and accessible healthcare, income security and tax benefit systems for their families, and a number of legal protections from exploitation, wrongdoing and discrimination.

However, it is also true that women and girls lag behind men and boys in a broader range of social, economic and political arenas - and issues around domestic violence, sexual harassment, abuse and discrimination have not gone away.

Bullying in schools also continues to be widespread, with studies consistently showing that at least a quarter of children report being seriously bullied. Other research in this area suggests it is more like 60%.

Cyberbullying is also a growing area of concern. When the Commission launched the Back me Up competition with Ruby Rose at a Sydney High School last year, I asked students in the auditorium to stand up if they had been a witness to cyberbullying. Alarmingly, almost the whole audience stood up. Research shows that 64% of cyberbullying victims are girls.

The most effective way to break the cycle of discrimination, bullying and violence is by listening to what our girls have to say, and informing them about their rights in a way that is concrete and tangible. As the experts of their own lives, ignoring the experiences of children and young people will invariably lead to decisions that just don’t work for them. This is why my first major initiative as the National Children’s Commissioner was to embark on a nation-wide listening tour we called the Big Banter.

4 The Big Banter

The Big Banter took place between June and September last year.

Through the Banter, I met face-to-face with well over 1,000 children, and I heard from a further 1,000 plus children online and through the post. I’ve also heard from hundreds of children’s advocates across the country.

The Banter was designed to be highly inclusive. By distributing prepaid postcards, establishing online submission channels and utilising interpreting services we were able to reach a large number of children from diverse backgrounds and circumstances. These include unaccompanied minors in immigration detention, asylum seeking children living in the community, children in out-of-home care, children in juvenile detention settings and vulnerable groups of girls and young women.

In my various consultations with young girls across the country, many concerns were raised about education. They felt that much needed to be done to address the needs of children who were disengaged from school, and facing suspension and school exclusion. There was discussion about the need for schools to be locally managed, more reflective of children’s interests, connected with youth services and families, and delivering a broad range of educational experiences, such as vocational courses.

Safety, physical and mental health, bullying and discrimination at school and online were also major concerns. The girls I spoke to wanted people to show more respect for one another and that they want to be respected and listened to.

I’d like to provide you with some more specific examples of issues raised by the girls and young women I have met with throughout the Big Banter.

The girls at Fitzroy Valley Primary School in WA said that they would like to live in a world that has:

  • The best life for every child
  • Improved quality of teaching
  • No smoking
  • Music, magic and everything in the world
  • Plenty of air, food and water
  • No swearing or bad people.

And where:

  • You go to school every day
  • There is no hitting
  • There is no pollution
  • Most things kids need are free
  • There is less access to drugs and alcohol
  • There is an efficient transport system so girls are not left waiting around in dark places

During my visit to the Adelaide Youth Training Centre, I met with a group of seven young women who indicated to me:

  • They mostly liked or didn’t mind school at the Centre, but sometimes found it boring
  • Some girls did not engage well with school in the community
  • There was one girl who was being released but she didn’t want to go back to school as she thought she would be precluded from seeing her friends and believed she would not fit back in
  • Their feelings of marginalisation from some of the activities at the centre, due to the intimidation they felt at times towards the boys, and their tendency to stay in their own units and do activities such as scrap booking, rather than using the sporting and other facilities
  • Their interest in the fact that they had special children’s rights, which they were not aware they had
  • There is a history of self-harm at the centre, with young girls in particular

Similar issues were raised during my visit to Bimberi Youth Justice Centre in the ACT.

Like other mixed sex centres, there are far fewer girls than boys. The two girls at the Centre at the time said that they didn’t like doing activities with the boys and, that at times, they felt intimidated by all of the boys there. Like the boys, the girls felt shame and high anxiety about going to court and mixing back in the community.

Young women from the Bourke Community in NSW identified the need for improvements in a number of areas:

  • The need for services and opportunities such as
    • Traineeships
    • Dance lessons
    • Beauty courses
    • Jobs and skills programs
    • Netball programs
    • PCYC
    • A youth run youth centre
    • An Aboriginal community centre
    • Need to cater for all young people (teenagers, young mums)

 

  • The need for parenting support, including
    • Assistance programs for young mothers with education, particularly those that assist with returning to school after pregnancy
    • Parenting programs

 

  • And made the following broader suggestions:
    • Schools and TAFEs should offer a broader range of education and training courses
    • Make school less boring
    • Have places where Aboriginal people feel a greater sense of belonging
    • Tackle racism

At Milpera State High School in Queensland I spoke to five newly arrived migrant girls from South Korea, Iran, Vietnam, Congo and Sri Lanka who informed me that:

  • The biggest barrier to learning isn’t lack of motivation but the difficulties with coming into this school with no prior formal education
  • School attendance is in decline as unaccompanied young people experience a range of problems, including difficulties sleeping at night
  • There is no pathway after Milpera - high school is not an option, so students can only go to TAFE to study English temporarily
  • Placing refugee kids in low socio-economic communities makes things worse
  • There is limited space for playing due to lack of funding
  • Young people should be given the chance to follow their dream

And here is a selection of some of the hundreds of postcards I have received from girls. These are responses to the question: Life would be better for children and young people in Australia if?...

This slide shows you a few of the things children and young people told me about what makes them happiest.

The concerns raised by the child advocates I spoke with largely reflect the issues raised by children. They placed the most importance on family support (especially for vulnerable children) and protection from violence. They also highlighted the importance of education and education about children’s rights, the importance of children’s participation in decision-making, and getting in early to support our children where they may be at risk.

5 Children’s Rights Report 2013

The Banter helped me establish the priority issues that I will be addressing as National Children’s Commissioner. The many discussions and consultations undertaken on the tour have been analysed and consolidated into our 2013 Children’s Rights Report.

There are 5 main themes that feature in the Report

Theme 1 – A right to be heard

Children’s voice and participation in decision-making processes; specifically involving children in issues that affect them; and ensuring that existing mechanisms for resolving disputes are accessible and available to children

Theme 2 – Freedom from violence, abuse and neglect

Ensuring safe environments and respect for the dignity of the child; specifically making sure that the commitments made in national frameworks are achieved and built upon, through adequate resourcing and action; encouraging a proactive approach to issues of child safety that places a premium on prevention, through enabling safe communities and environments for children; and building resilience among our children

Theme 3 – The opportunity to thrive

Safeguarding the health and wellbeing of all children in Australia which includes promoting and supporting the health and wellbeing of children through early intervention and prevention; and identifying and focusing on the most marginal groups of children

Theme 4 – Engaged citizenship

Promoting engaged civics and citizenship through education and awareness-raising

Theme 5 – Action and accountability

Taking deliberate and proactive steps to protect the wellbeing and rights of children specifically including a national data picture of how we are travelling; articulating the vision for child wellbeing; promoting outcome based reporting and policy development.

6 Current programs and inquiries

The primary aim of the Banter was to assist me in determining my priorities as Commissioner.

This year I am investigating intentional self-harm and suicidal behaviour in children as part of my report to Parliament. The inquiry arose from the feedback that I received while talking with children during the Big Banter. We released a call for submissions on 22 April, which ran until 2 June 2014.

Intentional self-harm and suicidal behaviour in children and young people is a serious issue in Australia and overseas. The latest available data from 2012 shows that intentional self-harm was the leading cause of death among Australian children and young people aged 15 to 24. This examination focuses on why children engage in intentional self-harm and suicidal behaviour and the barriers which prevent them from seeking help.

Most incidents of self-harm and suicide involve girls and young women. According to Australian hospital statistics about incidents involving intentional self-harm in the year 2011-12, there were 2,855 incidents involving males aged 15 to 24, and 7,154 incidents involving females in the same age bracket. For children aged 5 to 14, no data was provided for males and there were 690 incidents involving females.

Our National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention found that the number of self-harm incidents involving asylum seeker children far outnumbered those of adults. Between January 2013 and March 2014, there were 128 reported incidents of self-harm in asylum seeker children in detention facilities.

Article 6 of the CRC gives to every child the inherent right to life and Article 19 provides for children to be free from all forms of violence, including self-inflicted harm. It is incredibly important for our children to feel safe and supported at all times. Safety was highly valued by the children I spoke to on the Banter. Children from 8 to 17 years old told me that safety was their top concern, and children under eight years old ranked being safe as very important.

It is therefore very troubling that many of the girls I spoke to on the Banter had engaged in self-harm, or knew of family, friends or peers who had self-harmed. A young woman I spoke with in Perth said,

“Self-harm can be both attention seeking and a cry for help. I did it and I was called an attention seeker, but the thing is no-one knows my story. Adults really need to be prepared to ask what’s wrong. Generally you don’t ask for help, you are scared to.”

Another young woman told me she self-harmed and had suicidal thoughts after being abused by her mother’s partner. She said,

“I cut myself to feel the pain...I found it difficult to reach out to others, I was scared of what people would think of me.”

Children and young people frequently report a strong connection between bullying and abuse by peers and intentional self-harm. As I have indicated, many of the children I spoke to during the Banter told me of their concerns about safety, and the safety of their siblings and friends, in the context of both the physical and online world.

We have had a very positive response to this investigation so far. I have had submissions from adults through written submissions, roundtables and consultations across all jurisdictions. I have heard directly from children, and from families involved with children who are engaged in intentional self-harm and suicidal behaviour. Their stories, wisdom and knowledge are a rich resource that I intend to harness to its fullest.

7 Conclusion

I’d like to finish with a quote from 18 year old Christine Gardner, who was my young roving reporter in Darwin during my Big Banter in the Northern Territory. In Christine’s words:

“I think it’s important that everyone goes to school, gets an education and understands the importance of positive participation in the community. But I know that this doesn’t always happen. Even in a country like Australia, where there are so many opportunities. One of the reasons for this, I believe, comes down to something very simple. Young people don’t always feel that they are being listened to by adults. Sometimes, we just aren’t taken seriously - it seems like what we think doesn’t matter. I believe some adults don’t understand us, or know what’s best.”

The vast majority of the children I have spoken to, let alone adults, are not aware that children have rights. By working together we can continue to build that knowledge and understanding in the community and in doing so safeguard and empower our children. This rise in female participation through education stands as an important marker for ensuring future generations of girls in Australia are given the opportunity to be active participants in their own lives, and within their communities.

Megan Mitchell, Children's Commissioner