The NSW government has recently announced a target to double the rate of adoption within four years.[4] People who adopt are also to be eligible for payment in future.[5] NSW already boasts that it leads Australia in out-of-home care adoptions. Furthermore, the federal government is currently conducting an inquiry into local adoption ‘as a viable option’ for children in out-of-home care with a view to establishing a national framework for this purpose.[6] Combined, these measures would seem to herald a return to the cruel and profoundly damaging child removalist policies of Australia’s past.
The devastating impact of permanent removals on both mothers and children has been extensively documented[7] in Australian government reports in relation to the Stolen Generation in 1997,[8] child migrants in 2004[9] and forced adoptions in 2012.[10] It is quite clear from the human suffering documented in these reports, each of them prompting a government apology, that permanently removing children is not an appropriate solution to disadvantage.
While the work of mothering continues to be an unrecognised form of unpaid labour, systemic economic and social discrimination will continue, leaving women vulnerable to violence, exploitation and having their children removed and put at risk.[17] To end the epidemic in child abuse, more must be done to recognise maternal rights, both in domestic legislation and in international human rights law. Strong mothers are needed to raise safe and happy children and we must provide them with the financial, legal and moral support they need.
https://www.lawyersalliance.com.au/opinion/maternal-rights-must-be-recognised-for-the-sake-of-children
Category: Reproductive Rights
UN set to review Australia's record on women's rights – and may find it wanting
Australia’s record on women’s rights is being reviewed by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in Geneva on July 2-3. The committee will review Australia’s compliance with our obligations under the women’s rights treaty – the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
Australia has a seat on the UN Human Rights Council. It was elected on a bid built on five pillars, including gender equality and Indigenous people’s rights.
However, we’re seeing little improvement on women’s rights and a concerning deterioration in some areas.
What are the key issues we expect the committee to raise?
-The human rights framework in Australia
-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls
-Violence against women
-Sexual harassment of women
– Refugee women and girls
https://theconversation.com/un-set-to-review-australias-record-on-womens-rights-and-may-find-it-wanting-98552
Almost 600 arrested at Washington protest over Trump immigration policy
Nearly 600 protesters, mostly women, were arrested on Thursday after they staged a non-violent action in the heart of a US Senate office building in Washington against Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy towards immigrants and separation of families at the border.
The mass protest was one of several demonstrations that erupted across the country, providing a taste of what are expected to be much larger demonstrations on Saturday called by the Women’s March and the Center for Popular Democracy Action.
Daily images are still emerging of distraught immigrant children separated from parents and not yet reunited, despite an executive order last week ending the policy of summarily tearing families apart and arresting the adults after anyone is caught crossing the border illegally.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/28/us-immigration-protest-trump-washington-senate
Gynaecologist who mutilated women faces inquiry in Australia
Health authorities in Australia have launched a major inquiry into a disgraced gynaecologist who mutilated and performed unnecessary operations on dozens of women over decades.
One patient died after Dr Emil Shawky Gayed operated on her and failed to administer appropriate treatment.
What has become a burgeoning public health scandal in Australia’s most populous state follows an investigation by Guardian Australia into the conduct of Gayed at one of the hospitals where he worked in the regional town of Taree, 310km (190 miles) north of Sydney.
Dozens of women in and around the mid-north NSW coastal town have sustained infections, psychological trauma and other complications because of treatment they received from Gayed at the Manning Rural Referral hospital.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jun/25/emil-gayed-special-counsel-to-lead-inquiry-into-surgeon-accused-of-mutilating-women-in-australia
The 4 Former First Ladies Condemn Trump’s Border Policy
In the weeks since the Trump administration instituted a zero tolerance policy that seeks to criminally prosecute anyone who crosses the border unlawfully and effectively causes children to be separated from their families, criticism has poured in from advocacy groups, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and a host of political luminaries who are no longer in office.
Now, in the span of about 24 hours, all four living former first ladies have added their voices to the chorus of public critique, calling the practice “immoral,” “disgraceful” and a “humanitarian crisis.”
Even the current first lady, Melania Trump, took the somewhat unusual step of issuing a statement that appeared to align somewhat with her predecessors, while also avoiding assigning partisan blame.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/us/politics/first-ladies-trump-family-separation.html
Distressing audio released of children separated at Mexico border
Heartbreaking audio of wailing children desperately calling out for their parents at the Mexico-US border has been released, highlighting the human toll of Donald Trump’s harsh immigration stand-off.
Democrats, and some in Mr Trump’s own Republican Party, have blasted the administration for separating nearly 2000 children from their parents at the border between mid-April and the end of May.
Former first lady Laura Bush called the separation policy cruel and immoral, while Republican Senator Susan Collins expressed her concern.
Even First Lady Melania Trump appeared to question her husband’s policy on Sunday, while medical professionals have argued the practice could cause lasting trauma to children.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has also weighed in, saying refugee and migrant “children must not be traumatised by being separated from their parents”.
In Geneva, the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, called for the Trump administration to halt the practice, saying it was unconscionable that any country would seek to deter parents from migrating “by inflicting such abuse on children”.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/2018/06/19/donald-trump-separated-children-mexico-border/?
Melania Trump speaks out against migrant children detention
US first lady Melania Trump has spoken out against the detention of thousands of migrant children separated from their parents by American authorities at the US-Mexico border.
US officials said on Friday that nearly 2000 children were separated from adults at the border between mid-April and the end of May.
In a rare comment, Mrs Trump spoke against the Trump administration’s harsh policy, saying the US needs to be “a country that governs with heart”.
“Mrs Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform,” Mrs Trump’s communications director Stephanie Grisham said in a statement to CNN.
The policy has drawn condemnation from medical professionals, religious leaders and immigration activists, who warn that some children could suffer lasting psychological trauma.
“This is inhumane,” Mr O’Rourke told CNN. “I’d like to say it’s un-American, but it’s happening right now in America.”
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/2018/06/18/melania-trump-migrant-children/?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=PM%20Update%2020180618
Teenage girl dies of snake bite in Chhaupadi hut
Eighteen-year-old Parbati Budha, who had been staying in a Chhaupadi hut during her period, died after she was bitten by a poisonous snake on Saturday night. The incident happened while the victim was asleep with her friend Radhika Budha in the hut.
Chhaupadi is a deeply rooted tradition existing in the western parts of the country, wherein menstruating women and those in the postpartum period are kept in a secluded place away from the house as they are deemed impure and untouchable.
The social evil was declared a criminal offence in August, 2017. The government had introduced a law that stipulated a three-month jail sentence and or Rs 3,000 fine against those convicted of Chhaupadi crime. Despite the anti-Chhaupadi law and campaigns, the tradition is still practiced in remote parts of Achham.
https://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2018-06-11/teenage-girl-dies-of-snake-bite-in-chhaupadi-hut.html
ARGENTINA – WE WON – Safe Abortion : Women's Right
Throughout the day and late into the evening, as many as 9,000–12,500 people were listening to the debate live on YouTube, at any one moment. At 4am Argentina time on the morning of the 14th, the debate was still going on, and 40 deputies were waiting to speak. Some 3,000 people were still watching it live on YouTube.
The debate has lasted 23 hours.
The vote has just been taken. Yes for law reform, abortion on request up to 14 weeks, 131 in favour, opposed 123. WE’VE WON!!!
Congratulations!! Venceremos!!!
http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/argentina-we-won/?
Venezuelan women are resorting to desperate measures in the face of the country’s economic crisis
In a new report, The Intercept found deteriorating economic conditions were driving women to extreme birth control measures, including irreversible sterilization and risky illegal abortions. With birth control pills and prophylactics prohibitively expensive for most Venezuelans, women are left with little means to prepare for what comes next.
The majority Catholic country outlaws abortions, often leaving women to seek clandestine abortions that could lead to further complications or death. It is uncommon for a man to consent to sterilization, even though it is a less dangerous and less invasive surgery.
The stories they shared were ones of desperation, survival and anger. A 21-year-old woman named Darling opted to be permanently sterilized to avoid bringing any more children into Venezuela’s harsh realities.
Her sister, Jennifer, found she could not feed her baby because her breast could not produce milk, and she could not afford formula.
Another woman, her face hidden from the reporters’ camera, completes an illegal abortion just offscreen.
One mother, Natalie, recalls losing her young son because she couldn’t afford his medicine. She cries during much of her interview.
Venezuela’s collapsing economy extends to the teenage girls who are asking to be sterilized, the women risking their lives to terminate pregnancies and the parents who are watching their children die before they do.
https://www.thelily.com/venezuelan-women-are-resorting-to-desperate-measures-in-the-face-of-the-countrys-economic-crisis/
