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Youth rights

Regardless of your age, everyone deserves fair treatment, but young people are often vulnerable to discrimination and harassment. In Victoria, it’s against the law for people to treat you unfairly or bully you because of your age. Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities recognises that children have the same rights as adults with added protection according to their best interests. Children charged with committing a crime also have special rights in the criminal process.

A group of three young friends stand in a circle talking.

Photo by Alexis Brown on Unsplash

Topics

Key stats

1 in 3

Australian teenagers are treated unfairly or badly because of protected attributes including their race, religious belief, sexual identity or disability.

30%

of all employed persons in Australia are young people aged 15-24.

41.9%

of young people say they are concerned about their mental health. This figure increases to 72.2% for gender diverse young people.

Stories

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