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The principal domestic mechanism through which Australia gives effect to its protection obligations under the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and under other human rights treaties, is the protection visa. This chapter describes the procedural treatment of asylum-seeking children in Australia and considers whether it is compliant with Australia’s obligations under key provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This chapter adds to the existing literature by examining the treatment of all asylum-seeking children and by focusing on legislative and policy changes in 2014 and 2015 affecting procedural rights at the primary and merits review stage of the protection visa application process.

Children are increasingly on the move in, through and out of South East Asia for independent voluntary migration, or due to forced migration, or trafficking. This chapter examines how the best interests principle embodied in the Convention on the Rights of the Child intersects with the issue of child migration and trafficking in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) region. It asserts that South East Asia is in a unique position to adopt a child rights-based approach to child trafficking and migration policy regionally with the best interests of the child as the paramount consideration.

International and domestic jurisprudence and guidance on the definition of ‘refugee’ have largely developed around the adult applicant. Decision-makers and courts have often struggled to engage with the different experiences and vulnerabilities of children seeking asylum. This chapter examines the application of the refugee definition to children in the law of Australia and the United States, providing comparative case studies on two aspects of the definition that present particular issues in the jurisdictions: the level of harm required to amount to persecution, and ‘membership of a particular social group’. The chapter concludes by drawing on the two case studies to highlight the possibilities of transnational and cross-jurisdictional dialogue in the field of refugee law.

The central argument in this chapter is that the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (‘Refugee Convention’) can and should be read in a manner that considers the experiences and particular vulnerabilities of children. We begin in section 2 with a (necessarily brief) examination of the Convention definition of the term ‘refugee’, exploring how the various elements can and should be read to accommodate the protection needs of children. Section 3 looks at the Convention’s exclusionary provisions and how these can affect children who have been embroiled in violence and conflict. We conclude with some reflections on the substantive rights that should flow in acknowledging the application of the Refugee Convention to children on the move as forced migrants.

The ‘surge’ of Central American families and children arriving at the US southern border in the summer of 2014 prompted the United States to adopt a policy of detaining Central American families indefinitely in order to deter other youth and families fleeing violence in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala (known collectively as the Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA)) from seeking refuge in the United States. This policy disproportionately affects youth who are particularly vulnerable to the endemic gang violence that plagues NTCA countries. In light of the limitations on challenging this policy in US courts, this chapter explores the role of the inter-American system in protecting the human rights of migrant children and youth. In this chapter, we summarize the inter-American Treaties and Conventions we think speak most forcefully to governments that would deny Central American children and youth the right to refuge or other international protection. We then discuss the jurisdiction and procedures of the institutions charged with promoting adherence to the inter-American human rights framework. Finally, we describe recent examples of advocacy within the inter-American system we hope will illustrate the potential and limitations of this system as a tool to advocate for adolescentes en el camino (migrant adolescents).