# Un Human Rights Charter and Spouse Visa 309



## FrankSS (May 29, 2010)

While I have no way of following this up or doing much about it I found this interesting article in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of which Australia is a signatory-

Article 16.
(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and *to found a family*. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. 
(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses. 
(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is *entitled to protection by* society and *the State.*

I'd like to draw attention to some parts of this-

In part 1, where it talks about having the right to marry and FOUND A FAMILY, how is this possible if our government are separating spouses for unreasonable periods of time? For me it is a roughly "20 week" wait (with no certainty attached). For others it is much longer or not at all.

Being separated from your spouse is not fun. It is a painful, heartwrenching experience where the deeper in love you are the more it hurts, all because Australia have decided to violate article 16 of this charter to which they say they agree to.

I guess lawyers could interpret this in any way, but "founding a family" is not really possible if you are not actually with your partner in the first place. In the case of a newly wed, (of which I am one), emotions are intense and it is a time of growth and excitement as we get to know each other. But being physically separated stops that development in it's tracks, because phone and internet relationships while nice, are not able to give you the full scope of a real marriage.

We could technically "found a family" by having a child now, but if we did that our separation would hurt far worse than it already does.

I'm not sure what a reasonable amount of time is, but maybe we should ask how long our politicians would like to be separated from their spouses to determine this (those with "genuine" marriages that is). Most couples I know can barely stand to be apart from each other for a few days. Turning this into weeks and months, for no other reason than red tape being processed is to me a violation of human rights. I think as long as the visa application is complete, police, character, medical and financial checks all pass, then the visa should be granted at that time, not made to wait for some "cue".

Not when it comes to family, especially marraige, which this charter says is "entitled to protection...by the state".

How is the state protecting my family by separating me for such extended periods of time?

Check out articles 1 and 2 also-

Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

How is it "acting towards one another in a spirit of "brotherhood" if my government is dividing my marriage by keeping me apart from my spouse?

I may be wrong, but wasn't there a time when if you married someone this was enough to get them into Australia? Yes, we know there are dodgy marriages, but current legislation does nothing to address this problem. The only way you can test if people are really married is to observe them- bring them into Australia, make them report to government on a regular basis and use psychologists to make this determination, not government workers with no experience in this highly complex area.

The current way of handing in a few bits of paper or photos (that can be forged) is asking for trouble and needs reform. There has to be a more humane way to deal with married couples and visas.

In my own experience, we spent months putting together all the data the visa required, but in the application process, on the day, the consulate did not want hardly any of these documents. Do you know how hard it is to sift through months of emails and online chats and calls?Both emotionally and logistically? There has to be a better way.

The concept of a "family" cannot really be "founded" until all partners are physically living together, it's that simple, and while our government continue to separate so many genuine marriages, this only adds to the pain for so many couples. It's time for a change I think.


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## Wanderer (Jun 16, 2007)

I do not know that you'll find too many experts about Frank for interpreting UN charters but you could try your local member for they are the ones who will take something on board in the first instance re consideration of how the country can be improved.

I'd not hold my breath though for I'd expect they will in turn be reliant on the bureaucrats that service government legislation and at a guess it could well be that an answer if you were to get one back is that UN Charters might be interpreted as to how a democracy functions within its own borders a bit like how there are expectations on how refugees are to be treated in Australia and the reason why Christmas Island has been annexed for the purpose of asylum seeker assessment.

There are certainly essential requirements that Immi expect applicants of all visas to address and Immi officers are bound by legislation in dealing with that and so that's why it would be your local member for nothing much will change without legislation being changed.
Just how COs view different information presented to them will likely vary where it is beyond the basic documentation required to show that at least something of a relationship exists and I suppose like with all forms of legislation a line in the sand does need to be drawn, that being what legislation is all about.

I imagine you would also feel for our service people who serve abroad, many of them separated from spouses for lengthy periods, often not having been married too long for they are mostly younger people and then sadly some do not return alive.

As to how long the process may take for your wife, she is not alone in that and it is in fact the numbers of applicants that is a large factor in how long in time the process is and I doubt that even the UN would see that Australia is in breach of the charter for if anything, that international marriages are provided for in our immigration legislation may be more than what occurs for some countries.


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