[GA - PASSED] Contact Rights Between Parent And Child

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Chipoli

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Contact Rights Between Parent And Child
Category: Civil Rights | Strength: Mild
Proposed by: Simone Republic | Onsite Topic


The World Assembly,

Recognizing that WA#39 (The Right to a Lawful Divorce) requires that for children of a divorce, member states shall resolve issues of custody and support with an overriding priority on the best interests of each and every child;

Noting that different laws and customs between member states may allow said child to become the purview of a sole parent or legal guardian due to varying definitions on legal parenthood and marriage laws, and the interests of a child and abhors the potential resulting lack of contact rights by other parents as a a result;

Defining, for the purposes of this Resolution:

"Child" as a person that has not yet attained the age of majority in the WA member state ("Resident State") in which the person ordinarily resides;

"Court" as the relevant court, tribunal, or other competent authority of the Resident State on matters pertaining to the welfare and custody of a child, including the child's best interests (and to interpret what constitutes "best interests");

"Contact" as inclusive of each of the following separate rights: (i) right of a child to stay for a limited period of time with or meeting a Parent with whom that child is not usually living, (ii) any form of communication (including telecommunication) between the child and such Parent; (iii) the provision of information to such a Parent about the child;

"Custody" as inclusive of each of the following separate rights (i) Legal Custody, the right to make decisions about the child, and (ii) Physical Custody, the right and duty to house, provide and care for the child;

"Parent(s)" as (i) persons holding legal parenthood in the Resident State, as defined by the laws of the Resident State and (ii) in custody disputes, any plaintiff or defendant who asserts the right to legal parenthood based on the laws of the WA member state to which the said plaintiff or defendant is a citizen of;

Hereby requires that:

1. A Parent shall have the right to obtain and maintain regular Contact with a child, unless such Contact(s) are deemed by the Court to be manifestly contrary to the best interests of the child;
2. The said right to Contact shall not be denied to a particular Parent solely on the grounds of the Child being accustomed to be in the presence of only one or a specific number of the child's Parent(s);
3. Each of the three Contact rights defined herein shall be considered separately by a Court on its own merits and the Court may impose, in any and all instances where such Contact rights are exercised, such safeguards as it deems to be in the best interests of a child;
4. A Parent that does not have the right to Physical Custody of the child shall, unless deemed by a Court to be contrary to the interests of the Child, be consulted on matters of Legal Custody that are deemed by the Court to be important to the Child's best interests;
5. A Child deemed by a Court as sufficiently competent shall have the right, if deemed by the said Court to be in the Child's best interests, to (i) to receive all relevant information and (ii) to be consulted with regards to such Contact, and that due weight shall be given to those views and to the ascertainable wishes and feelings of the Child;
6. In disputes on Custody, a Court must recognize the legal parenthood of a citizen of another WA member state, and to define that person as a Parent, as long as the person can conclusively demonstrate legal parenthood in the WA member state to which that person is a citizen, even if that person would not otherwise be entitled to legal parenthood in the Resident State, and Contact rights may not be curtailed on the grounds of differences in the definition of legal parenthood between WA member states.

Further, hereby encourages a WA member state to also extend the rights to said Contact(s) to a Parent that is a citizen of a non-WA member state.
Note: Only votes from TNP WA nations and NPA personnel will be counted. If you do not meet these requirements, please add (non-WA) or something of that effect to your vote.
Voting Instructions:
  • Vote For if you want the Delegate to vote For the resolution.
  • Vote Against if you want the Delegate to vote Against the resolution.
  • Vote Abstain if you want the Delegate to abstain from voting on this resolution.
  • Vote Present if you are personally abstaining from this vote.
Detailed opinions with your vote are appreciated and encouraged!


ForAgainstAbstainPresent
15001
 
IFV

Overview:


Contact Rights Between Parent and Child would, upon its' passage, ensure that parents of a child can seek visitation and custody rights, regardless of the varying definition of parenthood and custody among member states.

This resolution puts forward a series of parental rights, effectively ensuring that the parents of a child can seek and be granted custody and visitation rights, as long as that custody or visitation is in the best interest of the child.

Recommendation:

The Ministry of World Assembly Affairs believes that the ability to seek and maintain contact with a child is paramount to the development and wellbeing of the child, so long as it is in the child's best interests.

This resolution ensures that parents can seek contact with their child, even if they are a citizen of another WA member state. so long as they can demonstrate that they are the parent of the child in question.

For the above reasons, the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote for the General Assembly Resolution at vote.

This IFV Recommendation was written in collaboration with our World Assembly Legislative League partners.
 
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Present. Since this is actually my own resolution, happy to answer any questions. Also strictly speaking it might not make quorum anyway - there's been a lot of resolutions that failed quorum recently. My arguments for passing are mainly the following:

1. It grants a child (if deemed sufficiently mature) the right to be consulted on the child's own welfare;

2. It gives parents that are not given rights to physical rights to custody a separate opportunity (not a guarantee) to apply for reduced contact such as telecommunications or letters, and for consultations on the legal custody of a child, such as a child's education and other important matters;

3. It prevent cases where one parent is denied all visitation rights on the simple grounds that a child is "accustomed to live with" another parent (in real life, this issue appears only in a few jurisdictions, notably Japan, as I mentioned in the Forums);

4. It also closes some loopholes, such as a loophole whereby parent(s) of child(ren) who are not legally married (and thus not protected by any of WA # 39, WA #457 or WA #200) would not necessarily be recognised as parents for the purpose of other member states, or say if the other member states do not recognise civil unions or co-habiting, for example.
 
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In a coincidence that I (obviously) entirely did not expect, this resolution's clause 2 is to explicitly overrule the use of "not habitually living with the (foreigner, most likely the father)" in custody disputes in Japanese courts in denying visitation rights, something Abe Shinzo tried to overturn (with some success) in 2014 by ratifying the Hague Convention. (The previous DPJ government of 2009 promised it but did not get it done).

This was partly at the urging of President Obama, who took up the issue on behalf of American parents (more likely the father, and especially an issue for those where there was no formal marriage.)

And Mr Abe was brutally assassinated on TV today. I am utterly shocked. Yes I am aware that Mr Abe was a very controversial PM but I do not believe assassinating him is an answer to disagreeing with his views. I apologise that I have ended up entirely coincidentally advocating one of Mr Abe's policies around his assassination.
 
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This proposal has reached quorum and will proceed to vote shortly.
 
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"Contact Rights between Parent and Child" was passed 9,902 (67.6%) votes to 4,742 (32.4%).
 
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