I did see details on television one night, when the children were
interviewed, but I haven't been getting a newspaper every day and so haven't
seen a print report. In the TV report, the mother and baby were together,
but not with the children, who are in long-term foster care. I gather the
father is in one of the detention camps.
On the Lactnet forum, I'm not sure what it is appropriate to add without
going outside the parameters of Lactnet.  Perhaps if we focus on the fact
that the mother is breastfeeding her baby.  If the baby is released (if)
after public outcry, it is important to make the point that breastfeeding
needs to continue and that mother and baby need to be together.  That raises
the issue of being specific about for how long, because my guess is that any
such order would have a time limit placed on it, rather than being
indefinite.
Individuals concerned about this situation would probably want to write
letters or send petitions through established human rights organisations of
which they might be members, such as Amnesty International, or as
individuals. This is a matter that is going before the courts in Australia,
and they look only at law, as presented by the lawyers in the case, and are
not subject to outside pressure. However, there is apparently some leeway
where the relevant federal government minister can make an exception in
particular cases.  I don't know what the provisions for this are.  However,
two children whose Indonesian mother was killed in the Bali bombing and
whose father was in detention in Australia as an asylum seeker, were
recently allowed to come to Australia and live as a family, after publicity
of the case.  Some governments (as I saw when I was involved with the human
rights subgroup when I was a member of the New York Academy of Sciences) do
cave in to pressure in the form of petitions and letters, at least in
high-profile cases. My impression is that this government usually ignores
outside pressure, but the case of the two children from Bali suggests hope.
Perhaps other Australians can provide an email or fax address for the
Minister concerned.
     Virginia,
     wishing we lived in a perfect world

On Tuesday, November 18, 2003 Rachel Myr wrote:

> Does anyone know anything about this case, from Australia?  I can't tell
> from this article whether the mother and baby are being kept together or
> kept apart.  I believe the UN Convention on the rights of children would
be
> relevant to this case, though I am not sure.
>
> http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s991593.htm
> High Court to decide detained infant's fate
> Lawyers for asylum seeker Roqia Bakhtiyari will go to the High Court
> tomorrow to seek the release of her newborn baby.
> Since giving birth last month, Roqia Bakhtiyari has been staying under
guard
> in an Adelaide motel.
> Her five other children, who have been released from the Baxter Detention
> Centre, made a public plea for their mother's freedom this week.
> Lawyer Jeremy Moore says he will ask the High Court to release the baby,
but
> that could extend further.
> "I think one follows the other, if they can't lock up children then it'd
be
> crazy that they'd continue to lock up the mother who's breastfeeding that
> child," he said.
> The Federal Government is refusing to release Mrs Bakhtiyari.
> The matter will be heard in the High Court in Melbourne tomorrow.
>
> Thanksgiving is coming.  I am grateful that I have a home.
> Rachel Myr
> Kristiansand, Norway
>

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html