Mary Crock

Unaccompanied and separated children continue to be caught up in programs to deflect unauthorised Australian boat arrivals to offshore processing centres. If such children do make it to Australia, the processes for identifying children travelling alone are inadequate, with too much reliance placed on the self-identification of such children. No child victim of trafficking has been identified in Australia since 1994. Australia's refugee status determination system was established with adult asylum seekers as the norm. Children face obvious disadvantage in both articulating their story and in being heard. At the crucial first point of contact with authorities children are required to articulate their need for protection without either an advisor or an effective guardian. Case studies of children within the asylum process also suggest that immigration officials and officials at appellate level have been poorly trained and have lacked the skills to deal with child asylum seekers with appropriate sensitivity. Another barrier faced by these children is legal: questions remain as to how well the international definition of refugee has been read to accommodate the particular experiences of children. It is hoped that this report will encourage Australian officials to think seriously about children as refugees in their own right - most particularly when the children are travelling alone.This Report was funded by the MacArthur Foundation (Chicago), the Australian Research Council and the Myer Foundation.Also available Seeking Asylum Alone - A Comparative Study- Unaccompanied and Separated Children and Refugee Protection in Australia, the UK and the US, by Jacqueline Bhabha and Mary Crock.

A Study of Australian Law, Policy and Practice Regarding Unaccompanied and Separated Children

Seeking Asylum Alone

The concept of the migrant as rights bearer at law is surprisingly recent and under-developed. Migrants have traditionally been seen as outsiders, persons who are in society but not yet of society. Migrants are at best invitees, ’guests’ for whom presence in a country is a privilege. This is the first of two volumes which bring together writings which trace the evolution in thinking about migrants as legal subjects and rights holders. The articles cover: issues around state sovereignty and migrants as subjects of international law; the articulation of rights; different categories of migrants; issues around health and disability. The volume also features an extended article on the proposal for an International Migrants’ Bill of Rights (IMBR) put forward by an international consortium of academics and students. A related volume Refugees and Rights is also published as part of the series.

Migrants and Rights

Ben Saul

Azadeh Dastyari

"This book explores Australia's ambivalent legal and political response to 'irregular' migrants - asylum seekers, 'boat people', 'illegals', 'queue jumpers' and 'economic migrants'."--Back cover.

Refugees and Irregular Migration in Australia

Future Seekers II

Laura Smith-Khan

Ron McCallum

This ground-breaking book focuses on the ‘forgotten refugees’, detailing people with disabilities who have crossed borders in search of protection from disaster or human conflict. The authors explore the intersection between one of the oldest international human rights treaties, the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, with one of the newest: the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Drawing on fieldwork in six countries hosting refugees in a variety of contexts – Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Uganda, Jordan and Turkey – the book examines how the CRPD is (or should) be changing the way that governments and aid agencies engage with and accommodate persons with disabilities in situations of displacement. The timeliness of the book is underscored by the adoption in mid-2016 of the UN Charter on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action adopted at the World Humanitarian Summit.

Forgotten and Invisible?

The Legal Protection of Refugees with Disabilities

Lenni B. Benson

Unprecedented numbers of children are crossing international borders seeking safety. Framed around compelling case studies explaining why children are on the move in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Oceania, this book explores the jurisprudence and processes used by nations to adjudicate children’s protection claims. The book includes contributions from leading scholars in immigration, refugee law, children’s rights and human trafficking which critically examine the strengths and weaknesses of international and domestic laws with the aim of identifying best practice for migrant children.

In Search of Best Practice

Protecting Migrant Children

Forced migration is both as ancient as human life on earth and a relatively new subject of interest for human rights scholars. This volume continues the discussion from Migrants and Rights to focus attention on refugees, victims of trafficking and others who cross borders seeking protection from anthropogenic or natural disasters. The opening essays provide historical and conceptual overviews of rights to freedom of movement and asylum; and links between human rights and refugee law. Articles on the principle of non-refoulement in international law explore the occasional disjuncture between the individual’s right to protection and the State’s rights to protect its national interests. The refugee’s rights to due process and the substance of entitlements at law are explored in essays that range across administrative processes; social and cultural rights, including family reunion; detention; and the right of return. There follow four essays that address sexual orientation and refugee rights; refugees and disability rights; human rights and persons displaced by climate change disasters; and the rights of victims of human trafficking. The volume concludes with work reflecting on the rights discourse outside of traditional ’Western’ theatres. These cover Africa (Kenya), India, South America (Brazil) and the Asia-Pacific (Indonesia and Papua New Guinea).

Mary Crock

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