Pictuers from London

Unmarried and Separated Fathers of Ireland shall continue with the process of lobbying against our governments refusal to recognize the basic level ofHuman Rights in this country, which will be highlighted at our annual Demonstration on Good Friday 9th April. The demonstration will commence fromThe Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, St Stephens Green at 12.00 pm and continue to the constituency office of the minister of thesaid department.

Unmarried and separated Fathers of Ireland calls on the Irish government to grant equal rights to all citizens, with emphasis on the discontinuation of allforms discrimination against men in the area of the Family and Social Welfare Rights.

Minister McDowell has clearly outlined the government's position towards discrimination against men in his submission to the United Nations under theCEDAW program. The program aimed to eliminate all forms of discrimination in Ireland, yet the government failed again as it reserved the extension ofrights to the family born out of wedlock, restricted the rights of the unmarried father and enforced discrimination against the most vulnerable of all, thechildren of our nation. The submission also reserved the right not to extend social welfare and social security rights towards men, a right which ispresently more favourable to woman.

This year we celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the International year of the Family, and to commemorate this we call on the government to recognisethe true meaning of the family unit in modern Irish society, not that framed in the constitution and based on the fading foundation of marriage, afoundation which is weakened by severity of the family law system it may have to endure. This year we call on the government under its role asPresidency of the European Union with its key theme of achieving greater social cohesion, to establish a public enquiry into the family courts system,exposing the abuse, injustice and discrimination which it administers.

This year we call on the government to abolish the in camera rule in our courts, we ask the opposition parties to resist the introduction of the purposedCourts ad Civil Liabilities Bill currently under motion.

This Bill if passed will achieve nothing less than further the hardship of innocent victims seeking justice in our family courts.

We call on the government for full implementation of international laws relating to civil justice, human rights and the rights of children.

There is uneasiness and tiredness in the area of the family in Ireland today, weighed by restrictions laid down by the state. The government has, andcontinues to fail in its responsibilities towards all members of the unit that forms the combined family in modern Ireland. This unit in its current legalinterpretation comprises of the primary element of the child, followed by the mother the primary carer, but excludes equal rights towards the father,and eliminates automatic rights of a grandmother; the grandfather and the rights of the further extended family such as the aunt or uncle areparticularly non-existence.

Today, Unmarried and separated Fathers of Ireland calls for the government to stand up to its responsibilities that are binding to all citizens of ourcountry. We call for the government to recognise the natural rights of fathers, releasing the restrictions they have endured, bound by state legislationresulting in pain, loss and suffering to the individual, and destruction to our society as a whole. Unmarried and separated Fathers of Ireland calls for thegovernment to stand up to its responsibilities towards the most vulnerable in our society, we ask our government to recognise the rights of the childrenof Ireland, and to recognise their needs and the the importance they play in the formation of the structure of our society. We call on the governmentrecognise, that the family unit is not based on law and legislation, it is a unit based on love. We ask our government, to stop the hurt, stop the pain,stop the discrimination and focus on our children.

Pat O' Donovan, Spokeperson, +353 87 935 7571
Dave Whyte, Chairperson, +353 86 261 2400
Ray Kelly, Founder, +353 86 887 9444

From: Matthew O'Connor
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2004 09:48:25 +0000
To:
Subject: PRESS RELEASE: Fathers Meet Minister as Civil Disruption Looms

PRESS RELEASE
Saturday 21st February
For immediate release

Fathers 4 Justice meet Minister as Civil Disruption Looms

The UK's largest equal parenting and fathers rights group Fathers 4 Justice
(F4J) will this morning (Monday 23rd) hold crisis talks with Lord Filkin,
Minister for the Family Courts in a bid to avoid an escalation in the civil
disruption caused by 'Superhero Dads' across the country in recent weeks.

The talks come just days after the government leaked plans for an 'early
interventions pilot project' which has been condemned by F4J and just weeks
before the Labour Party Spring Conference where the civil rights group is
planning a rally and other possible action as tensions increase after the
homes of 10 F4J members were raided in recent weeks by Police.

The group say that today's meeting is a last ditch effort to avoid all out
civil disruption in the coming weeks and months as their numbers swell as a
result of recent publicity. The group say they are evaluating the effects of
the protests on February 2nd which saw travel chaos across the country and
catching up with processing over 2,000 new members before taking further
action.

Said F4J Founder Matt O'Connor 'We are, every single one of us, prepared and
ready in our resolve to stand and fight for our children's right to see both
parents, be it on bridges, roads, gantry's, railways, ports. Every person in
F4J knows the burden of responsibility for changing the law now lies on
their shoulders. If the government don't act we will, and what you have seen
to date is but a foretaste of things to come. We now have the critical mass
necessary to implement a full scale national campaign of civil disruption
and disobedience.'

F4J have also slammed the government's proposed 'early interventions' pilot
project as a cynical exercise in family law fudge making. Said Matt O'Connor
'The much muted early interventions pilot has been kicking around for years
and is based on the model used in Florida, except in Florida there are
strong incentives to agree - i.e. there is enforcement of court orders - and
the whole system is underpinned by a legal presumption to contact.'

'The government is simply cherry picking the easy bits of the Florida model
and is cynically going to use 'guinea pig parents' in this project to try
and stop them jamming up the London courts where there has been a year on
year 50% increase in the number of cases going to court. It does nothing to
address the fundamental issue of enforcement of contact orders.'

F4J say that Lord Filkin is on record as saying that 'To compel people to
use mediation would undermine the basis on which mediation is founded.'
Said O'Connor 'If that is the case, and they can't even enforce their own
court orders, how the hell are they going to get people to go to mediation?'

'The government cannot keep saying that the courts are acting in the child's
best interests when nigh on everybody agrees that the system is in crisis
and desperately needs major reform. A government that is not taking
immediate action to resolve this crisis is guilty of acting against the
child's best interests.'

'The government must issue new practice directions about the enforcement of
contact orders and start using either the 'short, sharp, shock' imprisonment
of recalcitrant mothers for whole days, introduce community service or
simply transfer residence from the mother to the father when faced with an
implacably hostile parent who consistently flouts court orders.'

ENDS

F4J was founded 14 months ago. For further information visit
www.fathers-4-justice.org For up to date information and recent press click
on the link to the F4J Wales site.

--
Dave Ellison
0796.333.5938
http://www.amberell.com/campaign.html
Fathers for Justice: http://www.fathers-4-justice.org
Homepage: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mad-dogs/
AOL Messenger: dad4justice

From: ---tremendouspaul@aol.com---
Reply-To: fathers4justice
Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2004 15:08:25 -0500
To: fathers4justice@
Subject: [fathers4justice] Police Raids coming to your home soon?

Had lots of support from motorists beeping, flashing and thumbs upping etc
which was nice.

Please take time to read all email...ta.
FYI to help be prepared.
I've not yet been charged as i had a good brief who's been through this crap
years ago himself so he was up for it.
I'm out on Police bail to re-appear on Fri 27th Feb.

The police are going for serious conspiricy charges as there's more than one
of us involved and we had an 'exchange of minds'. Plus endangering life,
traffic act stuff. This might [probably] be a custodial sentence. I'm
actually quite frightened as i've got enough crap going on already in my
messed up life.

They eventually questioned me at mid night and asked me lots of questins
about you guys that i did not answer.'no comment' to all questions. Who,
what, why, when, how? etc.

I'm still very shocked when the police told me i could not be released until
the Portsmouth police had finished raiding my house.
To confirm.
They've taken my lap top and pc.
All F4J membership applications, stickers, various leaflets, laminated
signes, all F4J business cards. Placards from demos.
Gone through my photo collection and taken photos of me with variuos of you
guys at demos.
Taken many, many emails i've printed out from the forum with useful info on
from you guys.
My newspaper cuttings.

I'm preparing for my 3rd final hearing on the 13th Feb and some of my
documents & case notes [LIP] are on my lap top [actually my Mums]so that's
another challenge.

More than 60 marauding campaigners dressed in white boiler suits stormed a
conference at a Coventry hotel today.

Campaigns group Fathers 4 Justice burst into a meeting of Cafcass - the
Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service - at the
Britannia Hotel in the city centre.

The group, which describes itself as a civil rights movement campaigning for
a child's right to see both parents and grandparents, then
demonstrated noisily outside for an hour.

Police who went to the scene, described by one onlooker as being like a
riot, allowed protests to continue peacefully.

The protest was organised by the same campaigners who held up traffic on
Bristol suspension bridge.

Phil Davies, Welsh co-ordinator of F4J, said fathers from as far afield as
London, Bristol, Liverpool, and Manchester had travelled to
the city for the protest.

Mr Davies, from Swansea, said the justice system was unfairly weighted
against fathers who wanted custody or access to their children.

He spent seven years fighting for custody of his son, which he eventually
secured at the European Court of Justice.

Onlooker Tony Shirley, 47, of Milton Street, Stoke, Coventry, said he
supported the protest.

fathers 4 Justice - fighting for children to be brought up by their parents
- not the state!

a band of 60 of our brave boys and girls has taken over the national CAFCASS
conference in Coventry today, to put children back on their agenda. The
raiding party, led by ******, has occupied the conference rooms
since 11.30 this morning.

Below is the text of a press release, which has gone out to national papers,
and local press in east and west mids. Both BBC and ITV sent film crews, so
we are hoping for some decent coverage.

We need everyone now to contact your local press, wherever you live (this is
a national conference), using this press release and presenting yourself as
a local F4J activist, so they have something local to hang the story on. Do
it now, folks. Let's get maximum media coverage!

Ray
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ray******" <>
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2004 1:36 PM
Subject: FATHERS-4-JUSTICE Protest happening now!

60 protesters from the civil rights group, Fathers-4-Justice, have just
taken over the national Family Court conference, at the Brittania Hotel,
Coventry. Protesters rushed the conference suites at 11.30 am this morning,
in a move to put children back on the government's agenda.
CAFCASS (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) officers at
the conference, have a truly appalling record in deciding what happens to
the 1 in 4 UK children whose parents divorce:
1/ The Commons Constitutional Affairs Committee found, in 2003, that CAFCASS
was "seriously failing" children.
2/ CAFCASS carries out no research into what effect their recommendations
have on children.
3/ On 3/4/2003, the President of the High Court's Family Division, Dame
Elizabeth Butler-Sloss said, "60% of fathers have little or no meaningful
relationship with their children post separation."
4/ In a much publicised step in December, the Lord Chancellor, Lord
Falconer, sacked the whole board of CAFCASS.
Today's conference is an opportunity for CAFCASS to begin putting right
these fundamental failings. Instead, they have an agenda comprising
diversity in the workplace, lesbian and gay parents, and religion - belief
or culture? F4J does not belittle any of these issues, but when HMS CAFCASS
is sinking, this is no time to re-arrange the deck chairs.
Is it any wornder that CAFCASS is failing the country's children? Most
CAFCASS reporters are probation officers, trained to deal with criminals.
Only 1 in 7 receives any training to deal with children, which amounts to a
single 2.5 day training course - less than a traffic warden's training!
BRITAIN'S CHILDREN DESERVE BETTER, AND THIS IS WHY F4J HAS GATE-CRASHED
THIS CONFERENCE TODAY - TO PUT CHILDREN BACK ON THE AGENDA.
Press Contact details:
For a live interview with one of the protesters, ring one of the following
numbers:
07786 300699
07808 097220
07973 472693
07813 825160
If your coverage is regional, ask to speak to a protester from your area.
For pictures, contact Garry *** (NUJ 82598) on 07971 197852
The conference is organised by the National Association of Probation
Officers 020 7223 4887
Ray *****
F4J West Mids press officer
01902 761089 / 07905502856

You can vote for him simply by emailing:
personality@thisislondon.co.uk and put David 'Spiderman' Chick in the Subject line of the message. That's all there is to it!

Der Lord ist eine Lady
Die Perückengegnerin Hale, laut "Daily Mail" eine "gefährliche Feministin", wird erste oberste Richterin der Briten
www.taz.de/pt/2003/10/25/a0180.nf/text.ges,1

n-tv
Mittwoch, 5. November 2003
30 Meter hoch über London - "Spiderman" will Tochter sehen

Ein als "Spiderman" verkleideter Mann sitzt seit vergangenem Freitag auf
einem Kran 30 Meter hoch über der Londoner Innenstadt, um damit für ein
Besuchsrecht bei seinem Kind zu demonstrieren. David Chick verlangt Zugang
zu seiner vier Jahre alten Tochter Lauryn, die er nach eigenen Angaben seit
acht Monaten nicht mehr gesehen hat.

Obwohl ihm ein Gericht zugestanden habe, das Mädchen alle zwei Wochen zwei
Stunden zu sehen, lasse seine Ex-Freundin das nicht zu. "Meine Ex weiß, dass
ich meine Tochter über alles liebe", sagte der frühere Fensterputzer. "Das
hier ist ein Hilfeschrei!" Väter müssten endlich mehr Rechte bekommen.

Seine Aktion in der Nähe der Tower Bridge hat schon mehrmals zu 15 Kilometer
langen Verkehrsstaus geführt, weil die Polizei aus Sicherheitsgründen die
umliegenden Straßen absperrte. Am Mittwoch sagte jedoch ein Sprecher von
Scotland Yard, die Sperrung sei aufgehoben. Der Mann wolle sich anscheinend
nicht umbringen und sei deshalb keine Gefahr. Auch Befürchtungen, der Kran
könne umfallen, hätten sich zum Glück nicht bestätigt.

Chicks Ex-Freundin Joanna Gowens fragte nur: "Ist er schon runtergefallen?"
Peter Watson-Lee, ein Spezialist für Sorgerecht, sagte der "Times", die
Aktion werde Chick nicht unbedingt helfen. Sie beweise zwar, wie wichtig ihm
das Kind sei. Doch die Anwälte der Mutter könnten nun argumentieren, er
neige zu so extremen Reaktionen, dass der Kontakt zu dem Kind besser ganz
abgebrochen werden solle.

Nach Angaben der Organisation "Fathers 4 Justice", die sich für eine
Rechtsreform zu Gunsten von Vätern einsetzt, will Chick "so lange wie
möglich" auf dem Kran ausharren. Er hat Wasser, Kekse und Würstchen
mitgenommen. Sobald er herunterkommt, wird er allerdings wegen Gefährdung
der öffentlichen Ordnung festgenommen werden.

Brite im Spiderman-Kostüm beendet halsbrecherische Protestaktion
Festnahme nach Demonstration für Vaterrechte auf Kran

London - Nach fünf Tagen auf einem Kran inmitten von London hat ein 36-jähriger Brite im Spiderman-Kostüm eine halbrecherische Protestaktion für
seine Rechte als Vater beendet. David Chick stieg am Mittwoch aus rund 30 Metern Höhe über der Tower Bridge herunter und wurde sofort
festgenommen, wie ein Polizeisprecher sagte. Dem 36-Jährigen drohe ein Verfahren wegen Störung der öffentlichen Ordnung. Die Tower Bridge hatte
aus Sicherheitsgründen gesperrt werden müssen, was nach Polizeiangaben zu Staus von bis zu 16 Kilometern Länge während der Hauptverkehrszeit
führte. (AFP)

05.11.03, 22:47 Uhr
http://www.netscape.de/index.jsp?sg=News_Newsticker&cid=935384