Professor Mary Crock

 Protecting Migrant Children – the Australian Record in a Global Context.  Professor Mary Crock is Professor of Public Law at the University of Sydney has worked in the area of immigration and refugee law since 1985. She has written 13 books and 75 book chapters and refereed articles.

According to UNHCR statistics, in 2017 there were over 60 million people forcibly displaced in the world, and over half of these were children. There were also millions of children moving around the world simply as migrants. Children are more vulnerable than adults in many ways and there is a near universal human instinct to protect them. Individual countries have relevant laws and, especially under the aegis of various UN agencies, there are international agreements which lie behind many of them. What is the framework for these laws and how successful are they? And, in particular, how effective has the Australian system been in this area?