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Irish Times
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Is it time to acknowledge the legislative achievements of Charles Haughey?
Approaching the centenary of his birth in September, and 60 years after the passing of the Succession Act in 1965, is it time to give greater credit to the legislative record of Charles Haughey ? As minister for justice from 1961-1964, Haughey, still in his 30s, introduced ground-breaking legislation that would change lives. It included the Criminal Justice Act, 1964, which abolished the death penalty with exceptions retained for killing gardaí, prison officers and diplomats. These exceptions were removed in 1990 when Haughey was taoiseach. He also introduced the Adoption Act, 1964, which built on the 1952 Adoption Act and emphasised the rights of the child and the birth mother. And it was Haughey who introduced the Succession Bill in 1964 before becoming minister for agriculture later that year. His successor as minister for justice, Brian Lenihan snr, saw the Bill through the Oireachtas in 1965. READ MORE The resulting Succession Act entitles a surviving spouse to a portion of the estate of the deceased spouse, whether or not a will exists. If there is no will, the surviving spouse is entitled to the whole estate if there are no children or two-thirds of the estate if there are children while the children receive one-third. Even if there is a will, the surviving spouse is entitled to half the estate if there are no children and one-third if there are children. The Act marked a giant leap forward in family life and law. Before the Succession Act, it was possible for one spouse to exclude the other from benefiting from his estate. For example, a man could leave his farm to a male relative without making any provision for his widow. The old days of cutting the wife off without a shilling or threatening that if she remarried she would have to give up her life tenancy ... that kind of thing is all gone — Pat Lindsay, former TD in his book Memories In seeking a solution to this problem, Haughey was assisted by outstanding civil servants including Roger Hayes and Paddy Terry. They provided invaluable help, which he acknowledged. Another factor that prompted Haughey to introduce the Succession Bill was the large amount of money, sometimes even a farm, being left to the church while widows were neglected. Patrick Hillery, later president of Ireland, had encountered this phenomenon in the course of his medical practice in Co Clare. Pat Lindsay, a lawyer and a Fine Gael Dáil deputy at the time the Act was passed, observed in his book Memories how since the passing of the Act 'the old days of cutting the wife off without a shilling or threatening that if she remarried she would have to give up her life tenancy ... that kind of thing is all gone'. But opposition came from Fine Gael in the Dáil and the Seanad and in its document The Just Society, published in the same year as the Succession Act was passed. In that document, a section dealing with a proposed law reform programme stated that 'such follies as Fianna Fáil's Succession Bill will find no place in such a programme', although it did say that the rights of widows and dependent children would be protected. In Dáil debates, former taoiseach John A Costello , father of Declan Costello, originator of The Just Society document, praised many aspects of the Bill. He pointed to situations where, under prevailing conditions, wives were 'badly treated'. However, future taoiseach Garret FitzGerald opposed the Bill in the Seanad. Haughey had personal insight into the possible plight of widows. He was 22 in 1947 when his father died, aged 49, leaving a widow and seven children. Haughey's sister, Ethna, recalled how Cathal, as he was known in the family, phoned their mother regularly when she returned from early-morning Mass. The Succession Act came late for many, not only widows. In 1936, Osmond Esmonde contested his father's will in which his father, Thomas, had left his entire estate to his second wife. Following a lengthy court hearing, the court opted in favour of Osmond's stepmother. Not a shilling for the only surviving son. In 2023, the Law Reform Commission published a review of the Succession Act. A number of changes had taken place since 1965, including the Status of Children Act, 1987, which abolished the concept of illegitimacy. This was of major importance. But the Succession Act, 1965, remains Haughey's legislative innovation. Dr Finola Kennedy was lecturer in economics at UCD when appointed to the Second Commission on the Status of Women set up by Charles Haughey
Otago Daily Times
15-06-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Fears trafficking victims are being deported from New Zealand
By Gill Bonnett of RNZ Tearfund says it's shameful that trafficking victims are being deported from New Zealand when they should be protected. The non-profit organisation has uncovered new figures which show the extent and nationalities of intercountry adoptions, through an unchecked pathway. There are fears some of them could be among trafficking victims, as some adoptive parents have exploited children by making them work for no wages or putting them into domestic servitude. People trafficking complaints in New Zealand have risen more than 4000% since 2018 but prosecutions are rare, and some victims are known to have been deported. Tearfund's head of advocacy, Claire Gray, said the government needs to take stock of the problem. "We don't know the scale of the issue. We don't know who is being trafficked and who is being exploited. If you are in a situation of trafficking and exploitation of the any kind in New Zealand, it's very unclear how you raise the alarm about that safely and how you get out of that situation. And then there is very, very weak, minimal protections in place for people, for victim survivors of trafficking." It is not known how many people leave the country without reporting that they were trafficked. "I think a lot of potential victims of trafficking in New Zealand will be deported, so we will never know definitively," Gray said. "I think it's almost like a shameful thing to say about our country, some of these people are the most vulnerable people - they've had their freedom taken away from them or compromised in some way - and our response to that is just to pop them on a plane and get rid of them as quickly as we can. It's really not good enough." New trafficking legislation is needed which should include better protections for those who are abused or exploited, she said. New Zealand has faced international criticism through the US Trafficking in Persons report on how it identifies trafficking, prosecutes it and helps victims once they are found. Intercountry adoptions Fears have been raised about trafficking among a specific category of adoptions which occur overseas. In other adoptions, Oranga Tamariki (OT) and the Family Court have roles in vetting and checking adoptive families before the children are placed in their care. Tearfund's figures suggest most of the unchecked intercountry adoptions happen in Samoa, but also Kiribati, Congo and other countries. They show in the last four years, about 2300 children had gained citizenship after being adopted from countries which have not ratified the Hague Convention. Gray said the extent of any trafficking and exploitation among those children was unclear, and OT itself said it cannot say how many of its child uplifts had been adopted through the process, known as Section 17 for its place in the Adoption Act. "The evidence that we've seen is that section where we have those intercountry adoptions, is actually being used as a pathway to traffick children to New Zealand for the purpose of exploiting them," she said. "So, that will be by far the minority of cases, but it still is a loophole that we believe should be safeguarded very urgently." In departmental reports, officials reported INZ, OT and the NZ police were seeing 'increasing numbers' of children of all ages, particularly in the 18-21 age group, who have been adopted offshore and were in exploitative situations in New Zealand where they are 'coerced, threatened and deceived'. Section 17 was used in New Zealand's most high-profile trafficking conviction - also the most recent (2020) and the only one for trafficking and enslavement - of Joseph Auga Matamata. Matamata was convicted of enslaving 13 Samoan nationals and 10 counts of human trafficking between 1994 and 2019. His youngest victim was a 12-year-old boy he had adopted. His other victims were older and escaped his compound or returned home. "One of the biggest impacts of this offending on them was they went home broken, beaten in spirit and ashamed, because for many of them they had been deported," Immigration NZ (INZ) said at the time. Gray said despite the case and others raised publicly, most adoptions were genuine. The immigration pathway was helpful to families and should be honoured, she added, but better safeguards had to be put in place along with an immediate pause while that happened. Oranga Tamariki and Immigration New Zealand OT said it has a role in adoptions when the child's country of origin is a contracting state of the Hague Convention. "Oranga Tamariki only has formal intercountry adoption programmes with Hague Contracting States including Chile, Hong Kong, India, Philippines, Lithuania, and Thailand," said manager of Tamariki and Whānau Services Paula Attrill, in a written statement. "These programmes are available for New Zealanders, following assessment and approval, to apply to adopt a child from." In other adoptions, the process is carried out under the laws of the overseas country and outside the framework of the 1993 convention, she said. "In some circumstances, we have partnered with non-Hague contracting states to work towards the development of arrangements that ensure safeguards are in place for the children involved." OT has declined interview requests. In a written statement, INZ said New Zealand had a whole-of-government approach to preventing and fighting people trafficking, and to providing help to victims. "If it is determined the individual does not have a clear visa pathway to remain in New Zealand lawfully, we will start the deportation process," said its national compliance manager Fadia Mudafar. "There is a formal process for a person liable for deportation to provide information about their personal circumstances, where they may disclose that they are a victim of trafficking. "We recognise the courage it takes to share such experiences and approach each disclosure with sensitivity, respect, and a commitment to ensuring the individual's safety and dignity. Additionally, compliance officers are trained to detect trafficking indicators." INZ gave the example of Matamata in which staff identified the potential trafficking, halted deportation action and referred the matter for further investigation. "If concerns arise during deportation proceedings, the matter is immediately referred by the compliance officers to the investigations team," Mudafar said. "MBIE works closely with a range of international and domestic partners across business, and civil society to prevent people trafficking in New Zealand. Where people trafficking does occur, we are committed to ensuring the welfare of victims is at the heart of our response and that offenders are prosecuted for their crimes." It spelled out its activities, including: Offshore prevention and capacity building initiatives to uplift the capability of international partners to respond to people trafficking, and disruption activities with law enforcement to target people trafficking networks Representing New Zealand at key international meetings such as the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime and the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime Robust procedures to identify potential people trafficking risks across visa and verification processing Delivery of training to frontline staff to help them identify indicators of people trafficking, particularly at the border Suspected victims of trafficking can apply for a Victims of People Trafficking Visa (VoPT) Support to both New Zealand citizens/residents and non-residents if the crime occurred in New Zealand Victims can be certified by NZ Police. Certification grants access to health, welfare, and immigration support services. "Officials recognise there are further opportunities to improve our sustainable support services to victims," said Mudafar. "MBIE will continue to work with partners to uplift the support to victims in New Zealand."
NZ Herald
18-05-2025
- NZ Herald
Children as young as 6 adopted, made to work as house slaves
Teikamata and her team helped 10 Samoan teenagers who had managed to escape their homes, and slavery – two boys and eight girls – with health, housing and counselling. She fears they are the tip of the iceberg, and that many remain under lock and key. 'They were brought over as a child or a teenager, sometimes they knew the family in Samoa, sometimes they didn't – they had promised them a better life over here, an education and citizenship. 'When they arrived they would generally always be put into slavery. They would have to get up at 5, 6 in the morning, start cleaning, start breakfast, do the washing, then go to school and then after school again do cleaning and dinner and the chores – and do that every day until a certain age, until they were workable. 'Then they were sent out to factories in Auckland or Wellington and their bank account was taken away from them and their Eftpos card. They were given $20 a week. From the age of 16 they were put to work. And they were also not allowed to have a phone – most of them had no contact with family back in Samoa.' 'It's still going on' Nothing stopped the abusive families from being able to adopt again and they did, she said. A recent briefing to ministers reiterated that New Zealanders with criminal histories or significant child welfare records have used overseas courts to approve adoptions, which were recognised under New Zealand law without further checks. 'When I delved more into it, I just found out that it was a very easy process to adopt from Samoa,' she said. 'There's no checks, it's a very easy process. So about a thousand kids [a year] are today being adopted from Samoa, it's such a high number – whereas other countries have checks or very robust systems. And it's still going on.' As children, they could not play with friends and all of their movements were controlled. Oranga Tamariki uplifted younger children, who were sometimes siblings of older children who had escaped. 'The ones that I met had escaped and found a friend or were homeless or had reached out to the police.' When they were reunited with their birth parents on video calls, it was clear they came from loving families who had been deceived, she said. While some adoptive parents faced court for assault, only one has been prosecuted for trafficking. Government, police and Oranga Tamariki were aware and in talks with the Samoan government, she said. Adoption Action member and researcher Anne Else said several opportunities to overhaul the 70-year-old Adoption Act had been thwarted, and the whole legislation needed ripping up. 'The entire law needs to be redone, it dates back to 1955 for goodness sake,' she said. 'But there's a big difference between understanding how badly and urgently the law needs changing and actually getting it done. Advertise with NZME. 'Oranga Tamariki are trying, I know, to work with for example Tonga to try and make sure that their law is a bit more conformant with ours, and ensure there are more checks done to avoid these exploitative cases.' Children from other countries had been sold for adoption, she said, and the adoption rules depended on which country they came from. Even the Hague Convention, which is supposed to provide safeguards between countries, was no guarantee. Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said other ministers were looking at what can be done to crack down on trafficking through international adoption. 'If there are non-genuine adoptions and and potential trafficking, we need to get on top of that. It falls outside of the legislation that I am responsible for, but there are other ministers who have it on their radars because we're all worried about it. I've read a recent report on it and it was pretty horrifying. So it is being looked at.' A meeting was held between New Zealand and Samoan authorities in March. A summary of discussions said it focused on aligning policies, information sharing, and 'culturally grounded frameworks' that uphold the rights, identity, and wellbeing of children, following earlier work in 2018 and 2021.
