Travel and Learning Award for Leon Tan
Supporting Leon Tan to travel to the UK and Australia to examine the barriers and enablers of incorporation of the UNCROC.
Borrin Foundation Travel and Learning Award
Leon’s plan
Aotearoa New Zealand ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC) over three decades ago, but there remains significant work to fully implement and give effect to its provisions. Drawing on Scotland’s recent legislative success – the UNCROC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 – Leon will use the award to travel and learn about how enforceable Convention rights are operating in comparable common law jurisdictions, including Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, and Australia.
The research will focus on identifying enablers, barriers, and lessons relevant to New Zealand’s unique legal, social, and constitutional context. Leon is leading this work through the Children’s Rights Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand (CRAANZ), the country’s civil society focal point under UNCROC, and will use the findings to inform CRAANZ’s strategy, shape discourse, and support future research. The project responds to recommendations from the Royal Commission of Inquiry (Abuse in Care) and the 2023 Concluding Observations from the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Ultimately, this work aims to provide concrete, actionable steps for policymakers and child-sector stakeholders to make children’s rights legally enforceable, ensuring New Zealand upholds the principle of progressive realization and meets its implementation obligations under Article 4 of UNCROC.
About Leon
Leon Tan believes the law must be genuinely common to all New Zealanders, yet gaps remain in how the law serves children and gives effect to their rights. In response to the systemic failings highlighted by the Royal Commission of Inquiry (Abuse in Care), Leon is exploring a potential legal solution: the incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into domestic law. Entrenched statutory incorporation may enable the Convention to finally function as intended – by providing child policy with a holistic framework that is stable, enforceable and proportionate to the structural disadvantages that children uniquely face.
Leon’s approach is informed by his experience in civil litigation, including regarding challenges faced due to the limitation statutes, doctrines of direct and vicarious liability and the Crown Proceedings Act 1950. As a Steering Committee member of the Children’s Rights Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand (CRAANZ), the country focal point under the Convention, Leon is well positioned to lead this work and is driven by a clear vision: to make Aotearoa New Zealand the best place in the world for children to grow up.
Grant Amount
$9,990 in 2025 to support travel
“This award is a crucial opportunity to gather practical insights from other jurisdictions to inform a workable path to incorporating children’s rights into domestic law so that the rule of law may better serve all children in all circumstances.”