Motherhood and human rights violations: untold suffering?

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe removal of Aboriginal children from their families gained national attention in Australia following the publication of the Bringing Them Home Report in 1997. Notably absent from this report, however, were first-hand accounts of the experiences of Indigenous parents, particularly of mothers, who were often the primary carers or sole parents of removed Indigenous children. This article explores whether the right to mother is adequately protected by existing UN human rights conventions, and argues that the lack of explicit protection of aspects of the right to mother within the international human rights framework contributes to the failure to identify and address violations of the rights of mothers in human rights inquiries and processes. Key factors are identified that contribute to our understanding of Aboriginal mothers’ ongoing silence throughout the Bringing Them Home Inquiry process and beyond, which have wider implications for the identification and investigation of violations of the human rights of mothers.