New legal clinic launched to assist stateless refugee children
A unique University of Melbourne initiative that helps provide essential legal services to stateless children in Australia has received a significant grant enabling it to run for the next five years.
Launched as a pilot in March 2021, the Stateless Children Legal Clinic is a partnership between the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, the Refugee Advice Casework Service (RACS) and Melbourne Law School. The Clinic is the first of its kind in Australia and the third globally.
A person who is stateless is not recognised as a citizen of any country in the world. An estimated ten to fifteen million people around the world are stateless, a third of whom are thought to be children. Without nationality, stateless children face barriers in accessing education and healthcare. In Australia, they face the additional threat of prolonged immigration detention and removal to a third country.
The Stateless Children Legal Clinic offers Juris Doctor students at Melbourne Law School the opportunity to develop practical legal skills and directly assist in the delivery of essential legal services to stateless children in their application for Australian citizenship.
The Clinic has received funding from the Cameron Foundation enabling it to formally run beyond its pilot phase for the next five years. The grant has been named after Hiam Chalouhy, the mother of stateless person Fadi Chalouhy, who now resides in Australia. Mr Chalouhy is the first stateless person to be granted an Australian skilled migrant visa through the ‘Talent Beyond Boundaries’ program.
Mr Chalouhy spoke about his personal experience growing up stateless and his mother’s legacy at a virtual event on 16 September to formally launch the legal clinic, as well as mark the 60th anniversary of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
Mr Chalouhy said that the work of the Centre on Statelessness and RACS through activities such as the Stateless Children Legal Clinic helps to raise awareness of the global problem of statelessness and provide crucial legal services to vulnerable people and families.
“For 25 years my mother and I struggled to find answers or even understand what statelessness is, and how to fight it. This clinic will give every mother and child currently in this situation a fighting chance,” he said.
Katie Robertson, coordinator of the Stateless Children Legal Clinic at Melbourne Law School, said the clinic will provide critical support for stateless children, including refugees to whom she said Australia owes protection.
“The precarious legal status of stateless children in Australia means their chance to grow and develop as individuals is overshadowed by a perpetual sense of uncertainty. This clinic provides them with critical assistance in their applications for Australian citizenship, with potentially life changing results.”
Sarah Dale, Centre Director and Principal Lawyer at RACS, said the partnership model with Melbourne Law School has allowed for the critical expansion of essential legal services to stateless children.
“This clinic has enabled us to connect with families who may never have been able to access citizenship for their children without legal support. The process often has implications for other family members, and so it’s essential we can assist families navigating different legal statuses in Australia,” she said.
“For those who have been stateless for generations, finding out their children may now be eligible for citizenship is life changing.”
Watch a recording of the event here.
Find out more about the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness and the Stateless Children Legal Clinic.