JOHN TOBIN - PhD Student Profile

John joined the Faculty of Law as a Senior Fellow in October 2000 and the Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law in September 2001. He was appointed Senior Lecturer in September 2005. He has previously worked as an employment and industrial relations lawyer with Minter Ellision, a defence advocate with Victoria Legal Aid, a legal officer with the Department of Justice and undertaken research for UNICEF in Florence.

He is involved in teaching international law in the undergraduate programme and advocacy for military lawyers, international human rights law, human rights litigation and advocacy and international law and children's rights in the graduate programme. His main interests are international and human rights law and he has given a number of speeches and papers on issues relating to human rights to groups such an Amnesty International and PLAN International. He was recently called to give evidence as an expert witness before the inquiry of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission into the detention of refugee children in Australia. He co-authored a commentary to the Convention on the Rights of the Child with Professor Philip Alston from New York University which was published by Oxford University Press in 2003.

Abstract of PhD Thesis
'Dancing with Folk Devils: Adopting a Rights Based Approach to the Administration of Juvenile Justice'
(expected completion date: December 2007)

John's thesis examines the relationship between international human rights law and the torture, detention and punishment of children. He aims to identify the nature and incidence of such treatment and explore the extent to which the normative content of the relevant international standards adequately accommodates the experiences of children.

(January 2006)

Contact details:
law-apcml@unimelb.edu.au