Rights of Irish children of non-national parents

Monday January 27, 2003 22:25

by Children's Rights Alliance

Rights of Irish children of non-national parents Children's Rights Alliance - 23 January 2003

The Government must explain how the rights and well-being of Irish children will be protected before deporting their parents.

In the wake of the Supreme Court decision in the Lobe and Osayande cases, the Children’s Rights Alliance today called for a moratorium on the deportation of non-national parents of Irish children until the Government can explain how the rights and well-being of the children will be protected.

“The Supreme Court's decision permits the State to deport non-national parents, but it doesn't require their deportation, and it certainly does not absolve the State of its responsibility to protect the rights and well-being of Irish children whose parents are subject to possible deportation," said Raymond Dooley, Chief Executive of the Children's Rights Alliance.

"Before any steps are taken to deport the parents of Irish children, the Government must address itself to the consequences of its proposed actions, reveal its plans for the children involved and explain how the best interests of the children will be served and how their rights will be protected. While the cases have been before the courts, the Government has declined to answer questions about what will happen to the children. Now that the matter has gone back to the executive arena, the Government must provide those answers and must do so before any deportations take place.

"The questions involving the rights of Irish children include the following:

What will happen to the Irish citizen children of deported non-nationals?

Will they be left behind or – despite their status as Irish citizens – will they be effectively deported, or exiled, along with their parents?

If they are left behind, who will care for them? What preparations have been made and what resources have been allocated by Government to provide for the care of these children?

During the High Court proceedings in the Osayande and Lobe cases, lawyers representing the Department of Justice said that it was the parents 'duty' to take their children with them. If the children are taken to a foreign country, how long will they be required to remain in exile?

How will their constitutional rights as Irish citizens be protected during their childhood in exile?

How will consular offices ensure that the children will be able to realise their rights to a proper education, to decent health care, to protection from abuse and to all of their other rights under the Irish Constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child?

What will happen to the children if they are forced to move to a country where even the limited benefits of consular assistance are unavailable to them?

If Irish children find themselves in a country that routinely engages in serious breaches of human rights, how are they to protect themselves?

What will happen to the children if their parent or parents are placed in prison following deportation?

Forced marriage, female genital mutilation and torture are common practices in many of the countries of origin of the parents of Irish children. What safeguards and protections are being put into place to ensure that Irish children who may be forced to move to these countries do not fall victim to such abuses of their basic human rights?

What if these exiled Irish children are forced to flee persecution? Where are they to go?

"The answers to these questions are critically important to thousands of Irish children who could soon find themselves separated from their parents or forced into effective exile."

The Children’s Rights Alliance is a coalition of 72 NGOs concerned with the rights and welfare of children in Ireland. The Alliance works to secure the full implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Children's Rights Alliance
13 Harcourt St. Dublin 2
tel: (01) 405 4823 // Fax: (01) 405 4826
Contact:
Maria Corbett maria@cra.iol.ie or
Raymond Dooley raydooley@cra.iol.ie

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Rights of Irish children of non-national parents