Some children have rights: exclusion, detention and the paradox of children's rights in Australia
Jonathan Cartledge
University of Sydney
Contact Email:   jonathancartledgehotmail.com

There is currently a paradox in the Australian government’s position on children’s rights. On the one hand the government upholds its commitment to the rights of the child through its ratification of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child (CROC). On the other hand the government simultaneously violates the rights of the child through the detention of child asylum seekers. This paper argues that the paradoxical approach to children’s rights by the Australian government can be understood (though not justified) through the government’s approach to instruments such as the CROC and through the comprehensive exclusion of child asylum seekers from the wider community.

An essential pre-condition for an individual to exercise their rights is the inclusion of that individual within the community in which those rights are to be claimed. The Australian government’s selective application and manipulation of instruments such as the CROC to exclude child asylum seekers from the community, sees the original purpose of these instruments subverted. Originally a document ensuring the empowerment of children, the simultaneous proclamation and violation of the CROC by the Australian government sees it instead used as a ruse for exclusion and oppression. The detention of child asylum seekers within Australia—an exercise supposedly informed by Australia’s international human rights obligations—undermines the responsibilities of the State and the community to ensure that the rights of the child are being fulfilled in accordance with instruments such as the CROC.

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