Right to respect for the family
Discover your right to respect for the family, including privacy and protection of family relationships under Australian human rights law and conventions.
Summary
Back to rights and freedoms: right by right
ICCPR Article 23.1 states:
1. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
In this area the ICCPR overlaps substantially with the ICESCR. ICESCR Article 10 states:
Back to rights and freedoms: right by right
ICCPR Article 23.1 states:
1. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
In this area the ICCPR overlaps substantially with the ICESCR. ICESCR Article 10 states:
- The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize that:
- Special protection should be accorded to mothers during a reasonable period before and after childbirth. During such period working mothers should be accorded paid leave or leave with adequate social security benefits.
- Special measures of protection and assistance should be taken on behalf of all children and young persons without any discrimination for reasons of parentage or other conditions. Children and young persons should be protected from economic and social exploitation. Their employment in work harmful to their morals or health or dangerous to life or likely to hamper their normal development should be punishable by law. States should also set age limits below which the paid employment of child labour should be prohibited and punishable by law.
More information
- Attorney-General's Department Guidance Sheet
- Human Rights Committee General Comment No. 19: Protection of the family, the right to marriage and equality of the spouses
- European Court of Human Rights factsheet: links and summaries for cases before the Court since 1979 (updated May 2013)
Comments
Comments are invited on issues raised on this page, including suggestions for addition, amendments or additional resources, using the Comments field at the end of this page. Please note that
- registration and log in is required to enable comments. This is purely in the interests of reducing non-authentic comments (including automated spam) and is subject to the Commission's privacy policy
- posts which are irrelevant to the topic or are otherwise contrary to our social media guidelines may be deleted.
Please email if any difficulties are encountered in posting comments.