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Removing Legal Discrimination Against Children Born Outside Marriage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2024

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The First Principle of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959) states that “The child shall enjoy all the rights set forth in this Declaration. All children, without any exception whatsoever, shall be entitled to these rights, without distinction or discrimination on account of … birth or other status, whether of himself or of his family”. Such a general expression of the desirability of equal rights for all children can be of little practical significance in the absence of positive laws to give substance to its spirit. The Declaration itself recognizes this in its Preamble, which calls upon “… national Governments to recognize these rights and strive for their observance by legislation and other measures”.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

References

1. Royal Commission on Human Relationships, Final Report, Vol. 4, Chapter 5, para. 91.Google Scholar
2. Royal Commission on Human Relationships, Final Report, Vol. 4, Chapter 5, para. 107.Google Scholar
3. Cited in Finlay, “Family Law in Australia” (Butterworths, 2nd. ed., 1979). 302.Google Scholar
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5. Under S.51 (xxxvii) of the Australian Constitution.Google Scholar
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7. Status of Children Act 1969 (N.Z.)Google Scholar
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10. Supra., n.8.Google Scholar
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14. Family Law Act, 1975-1979 (Cth.) Part VII generally.Google Scholar
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