Reunite boy with his father

Mr Z is a Polish-Australian who moved to Australia with his wife and their 2-year-old son in 2006. After nearly 3 years, the family returned to Poland, with the intention of permanent relocation. However, Mrs Z soon changed her mind and took the boy to Australia without his father’s knowledge or consent. The couple divorced, with Polish courts granting sole custody of the child to his father, and the Family Court of Western Australia later granting sole custody to his mother.

Mr Z applied under the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction for the return of his son to Poland and for access and custody. The WA Family Court granted Mr Z supervised access to his son in Australia, two-and-a-half years after he had first applied.

In 2015, the UN Human Rights Committee found that Australia’s failure to guarantee personal relations and regular contact between Mr Z and his son constituted arbitrary interference with family life and a violation of the right of families and children to protection (ICCPR articles 17, 23 & 24). Also, Australia’s failure to deal expeditiously with Mr Z’s custody and access applications amount to a violation of his rights concerning fair hearings (art 14).

Australia is obliged to:

Read more about the Z case.

Write to the Attorneys-General of Australia and Western Australia:

CC:
Hon. Mark Dreyfus QC MP, Shadow Attorney-General
Hon. Mark McGowan MLA, Premier of Western Australia
Hon. Michael Mischin MLC, Shadow Attorney-General of Western Australia
Hon. Mike Nahan MLA, leader of the opposition in WA
Senator the Hon. Richard Di Natale, leader of the Australian Greens
Senator the Hon. Nick McKim, Greens spokesperson for Attorney-General's affairs
Mr Colin Pettit, WA Commissioner for Children and Young People

Sender details

By pressing send you agree to send the above letter to the recipients listed