General

In this podcast, Managing Partner Sally Nicholes is joined by the Honourable Alastair Nicholson QC, former Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia and Chairman of the Board of Children’s Rights International. In the podcast, Sally and Alastair discuss Children’s Rights International as an incredible organisation whose mission aligns closely with that of Nicholes Family Lawyers in that it aims to protect and advance the human rights of children throughout the world.

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by Hon. Alastair Nicholson
Asian Jurist, October 2018
(reproduced with permission)

The Fight for Children's Rights in CambodiaOut of a history of occupation, conflict and genocide has emerged a renewed and concerted effort to create a more just future for Cambodia’s children.

"The treatment of children in prison has long been unsatisfactory. In many prisons, children are still mixed with adult offenders and receive little or no health care and education ... Many children see their lawyer for the first time on the day of trial."

"The new Juvenile Justice Law is enlightened and innovative ... It also represents an enormous challenge to the Cambodian justice system, which has hitherto been punishment-oriented." 

See: The Fight for Children's Rights in Cambodia (PDF - Full Text of this Article)

 

A special seminar

Wed, 5th Sept, 4:20 – 5:30pm, Ella Latham Auditorium, Royal Children’s Hospital

Article 6 in the convention: Children have the right to live a full life. Governments should ensure that children survive and develop healthily.

Article 9 in the convention: Children should not be separated from their parents unless it is for their own good. For example, if a parent is mistreating or neglecting a child. Children whose parents have separated have the right to stay in contact with both parents, unless this might harm the child.

Prof.Garry Warne AMA seminar series on children’s rights under the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child

The idea for this series originated at a meeting of the board of Children’s Rights International (CRI; www.childjustice.org), of which I am a member and which is chaired by former Chief Justice of the Family Court, The Hon. Alastair Nicholson AO RFD QC. There are two other former judges on the board, some additional lawyers and several members from other professions. We wanted to establish a forum where members of the medical and legal professions would come together to discuss children’s rights and to explore the many areas in which the interests of the two professions overlap. To provide structure, we proposed that we would base the meetings on the various clauses of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Our aim was to educate and stimulate discussion in a scholarly atmosphere, assisted by respected, well-informed speakers. It flowed naturally that CRI would invite the RCH Alumni to collaborate in hosting the series, and that meetings would then alternate between RCH, where the Alumni would be hosts and the University of Melbourne Law School, where CRI would be the host organisation. We further invited Dr Linny Phuong, Founder and Chair of the Water Well Project and a Fellow in Infectious Diseases at RCH, to be a member of the organising committee because of her extensive connections with young doctors.

The Hon. Alastair Nicholson

A seminar on Medico Legal aspects of Australia’s Asylum Seeker Policies in light of Australia's obligations under relevant international instruments including the Refugee Convention and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Held on Tuesday 19th June 2018 6:00 - 7:30pm
Room GO8, Law School, University of Melbourne, 
185 Pelham St, Carlton VIC 3053

 

A visit to Nauru in March 2018 by UNHCR’s Director of the Asia-Pacific Bureau, Indrika Ratwatte,  left him visibly shaken by “the comprehensive evidence of the harm inflicted (by the Australian Government)” and “rates of depression and stress that are among the highest ever recorded”. 

Bill Jackson
Bill Jackson

The Board of CRI is sad to announce the death of Bill Jackson. The following eulogy was given by the Chair of Children’s Rights International, the Honourable Alastair Nicholson, on the 13th November at a ceremony to remember and acknowledge his life and contribution to CRI.

Bill was CEO of CRI continuously from its establishment in 2005 until his sudden death in Septemberof this year. During that period he contributed greatly to the organisations’ activities generally, particularly in Cambodia , where his passion for the country and its people did much to further CRI’s projects directed at improving the welfare and rights of young people who came into contact with the juvenile justice system.

The eulogy reflects on Bill’s life and his enjoyment of it, his involvement and promotion of Indigenous and other human rights causes and his love of friends and family.

Bill Jackson Memorial Address

13 October 2017

 
I share today's acknowledgment to country and am sure that Bill would share my additional remark that the sovereignty of the land on which we stand has not been surrendered by its traditional owners and remains a sacred place to Aboriginal people.
 
Bill had a keen appreciation and rapport and friendship with Aboriginal people and it is therefore relevant to begin by turning our thoughts to the history of this site and its surrounds, not least because it is adjacent to the Court in which we shared many experiences.
 
I do so conscious of the fact that its history, so far as human settlement and occupation is concerned extends, not just back to the foundation of Melbourne but for some 60,000 years or more prior to that.
 
This area was a meeting place for the major Aboriginal groups including the Wurundjeri people, the Woiwarrung people and the Bunnerong people. I am informed that as a meeting place, the association of this land with the law may well extend a long way prior to the construction of the law courts nearby.
 
As I commented in a Facebook post written after Bill's death, he was one of the great characters that I have met. We first met in the early 90's when he joined the Family Court as the Director of Media Relations. This was an important job, as the Court, which I joined in 1988, had long been the subject of unfair media criticism. That situation has not changed but the big change that Bill's appointment made was that it enabled us to more successfully rebut this criticism and tell more of the real story about the Court's activities.

 

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