No Action by the U.N.

The United Nations have decided not to take any further the complaint lodged by THEN against the Queensland Government.

As discussed before, one can appeal against decisions by the Australian Government with the Human Rights Commission of the U.N., as Australia has acceded to the respective U.N.'s protocol on Civil and Political Rights.

Normally, one first has to go through the domestic judicial system up to the High Court, but in cases such as where persons have to risk their own safety by going to court, direct appeal with the U.N. is possible.

The threat by the Government to take children away from parents who refuse to comply with the relevant regulations, makes it hard for parents to go to court and admit that they are not sending their children to school, THEN wrote to the U.N.

The secretariat of the U.N. has now officially informed THEN that it regards the subject matter to come within the domestic jurisdiction of the State concerned.

THEN spokesperson Edwin Thor said the decision by THEN to appeal with the U.N. has not come lightly, partly because no-one expected the U.N. to take any action and partly because the U.N. in many respects represents the voice of the Government, rather than the cry of the victims. Anyway, this case has once more proven this point and shows that homeschoolers shouldn't expect much support from the U.N., Edwin Thor commented at a recent THEN meeting.

[ THEN-newsletter, 25 March 1994 ]

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