Obligations on Parents and Children

1674 Words7 Pages
The legal rights and obligations of parents and children are a set of enforced laws that outline and determine the way in which parents and children are legally required to behave, as well as the rights in which they receive. These exercised rights and expectations are both internally (sovereign) and externally based. Australian law has conformed to the Convention of the Rights of the Child to ensure the ‘best interests’ of the child are maintained. Australia has ratified with several international treaties that deal with the treatment of children, the most important one being the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CROC). This was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1989 and was ratified by Australia in 1990. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child contains forty articles, most of which deliberate a right for children. The four basic principles of the convention are: non-discrimination, the best interests of the child, the right to life, survival and development, as well as the right to have views expressed and respected. CROC has been incorporated into Australian law in a limited way. The conventions establishment of an ‘international instrument’ under The Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Act 1986 (Cth) has concluded that breaches of the CROC can be reported to the Australian Human Rights Commission; although, Australian courts do not have the jurisdiction to enforce its provisions. Under the convention, Australia reports regularly to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The Concluding Observations on Australia’s Combined Second and Third Reports on 30 September 2005 conducted by the CRC resulted in an expression of concern about several aspects of Australia’s protection on the rights of children. Among these included: disadvantages faced by Indigenous children
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