From diversity to inclusion: realising the rights of culturally and linguistically diverse children

Ethnic Child Care, Family and Community Services Cooperative - 35th Anniversary

Introduction

Thank you and good morning everyone.

I’d like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we are meeting and by paying my respects to the Elders past and present.

I’d also like to say a special thank you to Vivi Germanos-Koutsounadis for the invitation to speak here today on the 35th anniversary of the Ethnic Child Care, Family and Community Services Cooperative.

I am very pleased to be here to help celebrate the work of this organisation, and in particular the work you do to ensure that Australian children from culturally and linguistically and diverse backgrounds are able to access services that are appropriate to their cultural needs.

As we know, Australia is a highly diverse society.
I would like to share with you some recent data that underscores just how diverse we now are, and in particular, what that looks like for our children and young people:

• According to the ABS, at 30 June 2013, 6.4 million people or 27.7% of the population was born overseas.
• The proportion of children aged 0–17 born overseas in 2009-2010 was 8.3%, or 417,700 children.
• According to the 2014 Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Youth Census, 25% of all youth aged 12-24 in Australia are from a culturally and linguistically diverse background  - this not only includes those born overseas but also those who were born in Australia and have at least one parent born in a culturally and linguistically diverse country.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Australia comprise approximately 5% of the total child population.
• Overseas-born children come from more than 169 different countries. Over half of these children (56%) come from mainly non-English-speaking countries.
• Finally, there is great diversity in the languages spoken at home by culturally and linguistically diverse born youth, with approximately 220 different languages or dialects represented overall.

We are very lucky to live in such a diverse and vibrant country.

And while this diversity is increasingly recognised as delivering many social, cultural and economic benefits to the Australian community, I would argue that being genuinely inclusive remains a distinct challenge in our communities and in our institutions.

We know that children and young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds can face a number of issues that make them vulnerable and place them at risk of exclusion.  For example:

• Language difficulties can be a barrier to learning, employment and social inclusion.
• They may be subject to both direct and indirect discrimination and racism.
• Sensitive and relevant services are not always available, including in critical areas such as health and education.
• Direct breaches of a child’s human rights may occur, such as for many asylum seeking and refugee children.

As the National Children’s Commissioner, advocating for the rights of children is the main focus of my role.  As such, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child provides the main platform for this work. This international treaty, which Australia ratified in 1990 and which is the most ratified of all international treaties, covers the full spectrum of children’s civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. It is a legal document that sets out standards for the protection and treatment of children.

The Convention is based on four guiding principles. These are:

• The right to non-discrimination
• The child’s best interests as a primary consideration
• The right to life, survival and development; and
• Respect for the views of the child.

For children and young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, the Convention is vital to ensuring the protection of their rights in a range of areas. For example, in relation to the right to non-discrimination (article 2) the Convention states:

State parties shall respect and ensure the rights…to each child…without discrimination of any kind, regardless of his or her parents…race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property disability, birth or other status.

In the critical area of education the Convention stipulates under article 29 that the right to education should be directed towards:

The development of respect for the child's parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values, for the national values of the country in which the child is living, the country from which he or she may originate, and for civilizations different from his or her own [Article 29(c)].

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which oversees progress on the Convention, makes comments from time to time to help guide states to effectively implement the Convention’s intent. In General Comment 1, focusing primarily on a child’s right to education, the Committee said:

Discrimination on the basis of any of the grounds listed in article 2 of the Convention, whether it is overt or hidden, offends the human dignity of the child and is capable of undermining or even destroying the capacity of the child to benefit from education.

The Committee went on to draw a link between article 29 and the “struggle against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. Racism and related phenomena thrive where there is ignorance, unfounded fears of racial, ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic or other forms of difference, the exploitation of prejudices or the teaching or dissemination of distorted values…A reliable and enduring antidote to all of these failings is the provision of education which promotes…respect for differences, and challenges all aspects of discrimination and prejudice.”

For me, this comment goes to the nub of the challenge we face in both valuing and respecting diversity and in realising an inclusive society. And while we need laws like the Race Discrimination Act administered by the Australian Human Rights Commission where people lodge complaints and have them conciliated at no charge - changing hearts and minds is the larger game.

So today, I would like to tell you about some of the initiatives I am working on at the Commission directed at greater inclusion and the protection of the rights of children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, that I hope will go some way to reducing the prevalence of racism and experiences of discrimination and exclusion outlined by the Committee. 

Statement of Intent on Children’s Rights in Early Childhood Education and Care

I understand that many of you work in the area of early childhood education and care. So to begin, I would like to tell you about a Statement of Intent to support young children’s rights I have developed in collaboration with Early Childhood Australia (ECA). ECA, as you may know, is a national early childhood services peak body and advocacy organisation.

The Statement of Intent on Children’s Rights in Early Childhood Education and Care has been created to support teachers, educators, the community, families and children to understand and implement child rights in early childhood education and care settings.

The early childhood years lay the foundations for the development of children. During this time children experience the most rapid period of growth and change during the human lifespan. They also begin to form strong emotional attachments and their cultural and personal identity.  How children are treated and the extent to which children perceive the inclusivity or otherwise of the environments they inhabit, are critical formative experiences.

In this context, The Statement of Intent is a practical tool to help ensure that early childhood professionals understand Australia’s obligations to children, and to help inform their policies and practices. It also provides high-level principles and areas for collective work, advocacy and action by ECA, its members and me over the next three years.

The Statement of Intent has been based on an analysis and review of a number of key Australian child rights documents, including the Education and Care Services National Law (2010), the Early Years Learning Framework (2009), the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and my 2013 Children’s Rights Report.

The Statement of Intent is constructed around these five key themes, which emerged from my consultations with children and young people and their advocates in the first year of my role. They are:

• a right to be heard
• freedom from violence, abuse and neglect
• the opportunity to thrive
• engaged citizenship
• action and accountability.

These themes will continue to drive the forward work agenda for the duration of my term.

The Statement of Intent identifies key areas for action with regard to recognising and promoting cultural diversity and cultural awareness within each of the five themes.

The Statement of Intent will be launched early next year. Resources and best practice examples will also be developed to support teachers, educators, families and children to implement the identified areas for action.

Anti-racism projects

Addressing discrimination, in particular racism, has also been a significant focus of work for the Commission through the Racism, it stops with me campaign. 

This campaign encourages both individuals and organisations to take a stand against racism by considering the role they can play in responding to racism when they witness it. This is especially important in school settings given that the most common place young people witness or experience racism is at school.

The Commission has also been developing a suite of anti-racism resources for teachers linked to the National School Curriculum. These resources, which will be launched next week, bring together concepts of understanding, empathy and action, with a rich selection of activities, authentic texts and real life scenarios, to encourage engagement and in depth learning.

These activities were initiated because we know that too many individuals and communities in Australia experience prejudice, discrimination and racism on a regular basis. And for children and young people, experiences of racism are especially acute.

A 2009 survey of secondary students across four states found that 80% of students from non-Anglo backgrounds reported experiencing racial discrimination. These students, many of whom were from migrant or refugee backgrounds, also reported that over two-thirds of these experiences of racism occurred at school. 

In Australian communities, racism can manifest itself in many ways - from racist abuse, harassment and discrimination to jokes or comments that cause unintentional offence or hurt, or even to a lack of recognition of cultural diversity and culturally biased practices.

The problem of racism was also raised by children and their advocates during my listening tour last year and continues to be raised in my discussions with children.

One 14 year old girl said:

What makes me most happy is when I am surrounded by people that do not judge others on skin colour, race or religion and are happy to be around other happy people. Racism is something that makes my blood boil and I do not think there is a single reason to be racist. Everyone has the right to live in a world where they are not labelled/

And this from a 15 year old boy:

Why do people have to be so offensive to other people just cause they’re from another part of the world or their religion is different, or they’re black or white. It should not matter where you come from but what does matter is you have a good heart.

Mutual respect is fundamental to combatting racism and promoting the healthy development of children.  In this way it is essential that we not only help children understand that they have the right to be treated with dignity and not discriminated against, but that we also actively help children to exercise this right.

In 2009 the Foundation for Young Australians investigated the impact of racism upon the health and wellbeing of young Australians. One of the clearest messages to come from their research was that the experience of racism has a wide range of negative effects on the mental, physical and social well-being of young people. Not surprisingly, they also found that schools in particular play a critical role in the development of our young people and in influencing their views, attitudes and behaviour.

Many children admitted that experiences of racism led to feelings of exclusion and not belonging. These feelings and a fear of further bullying often led to anti-social behaviour, withdrawing from social activities, not participating in sporting events and avoiding attending school. 

Of those students who told someone about their experiences of racism, over half went to their teachers with a further 31% going to a school counsellor. Importantly this occurred regardless of whether or not the racist experience being reported occurred within a school setting.   What this shows is how pivotal settings outside the home are to where students go to seek help and where we can start to educate children about racism, how to prevent it and how to help those who have experienced it.

What you say matters is an example of another resource auspiced by the Commission. It is a video and rap performance created by students at a Sydney high school to demonstrate the damaging impact that racist words can have on another human being.

Refugees and asylum seeking children

Finally, I would like to talk a little about the experiences of children and young people from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds who are especially vulnerable to having their rights violated.

A number of children I came across on the Big Banter arrived in Australia as refugees. Most of the children are full of hope and keen to fit in, but can struggle to communicate and socialise with other children. Many are educationally behind, and a number have experienced the trauma of war and family separation. This ten year old boy at an Out of School Hours Care service in South Australia wrote on a post card to me:

I want to be a pilot and I think that everyone should have a plane. I think everyone should be free of war and Australia is my home.

Since I started in my role I have also spoken to a number of young people at youth legal services and settlement schools about their experiences as minors in detention, in care placements and in the community, in completing their education, experiencing racism, finding work, and applying for family reunification. I was also fortunate to be able to join the young people at the recent MYAN FUSE national conference last year and this year.

While these are some of the most resilient young people I have ever come across, they are nevertheless extremely vulnerable. Most are confused about the variety of visa systems and rules that have emerged over the years, many continue to experience trauma as a result of their experiences in relation to both their journey to Australia and as result of their detention, racism and discrimination are common experiences, and many are deeply anxious about their futures and those of their families.

I raised these and other issues in my statutory report to Parliament last year, and also noted that the Committee on the Rights of the Child has expressed significant concerns about child refugees and asylum seekers in Australia. The Committee found that:

• unaccompanied minors in Australia are held in immigration detention facilities not as a last resort and not for the shortest possible time, as required by the Convention on the rights of the Child;
• those on bridging visas or in community detention have physical health, mental health and education needs which are not always being identified or met; and
• there is a conflict of interest inherent in the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection acting as the guardian of unaccompanied minors.

The Commission has long held serious concerns about the impact of Australia’s mandatory immigration detention system, particularly on children, and has promoted alternative measures such as community detention.

However, even in community detention it is evident from the Commission’s visits and interviews that opportunities for self-reliance, access to adequate resources and meaningful activities were not always being met. These opportunities are critical to rebuilding the lives of asylum seekers and their families.

Most recently, you will be aware that the Commission has conducted a National Inquiry into children in closed immigration detention. The purpose of this Inquiry was to investigate the ways in which life in immigration detention affects the health, wellbeing and development of children; and assess whether laws, policies and practices relating to children in immigration detention meet Australia’s international human rights obligations. I was part of the Inquiry team visiting a number of centres, interviewing children and families and observing the conditions and impact on children.

Sadly, at present, many children continue to be detained in immigration detention facilities for long periods of time. As at the end of October 2014, there were 559 children in closed immigration detention in Australia, 1623 children in community detention, and a further 167 children detained on Nauru. The average period of time people had been held in detention facilities was 426 days. The Inquiry has found that this prolonged experience of detention has a clear and significant detrimental impact on the physical and emotional health of children and their families.

One indicator of the harm being wrought is that between January 2013 and March 2014 there were 128 reported actual self-harm incidents amongst children in closed immigration detention facilities, higher than the rate of adults in detention.

The final report of the National Inquiry has now been transmitted to the Attorney-General. We are hoping that the report will be tabled in Parliament by the end of the year and that its findings will help to improve the circumstances for children who have found themselves, through no fault of their own, in these highly damaging situations.

Conclusion

Appreciating diversity builds mutual respect and celebration of difference. While children in Australia are diverse, they also have many things in common. Here are just some of the things they told me made them most happy.

It is through recognising this commonality, this humanity that binds us all, that we are able to recognise that all children are rights holders, who deserve the opportunity to not just survive, but to thrive. 

If we are to move from diversity to genuine inclusivity the challenge for us all is to grow cultures, environments and relationships where each child, each person, knows they are valued, respected, and heard – that they are supported to reach their full potential and have their rights protected and promoted. I hope that you will join the growing movement of child rights champions taking up this challenge.

Thank you.