UN Calls on Israel to Cancel 'Tender Years' Clause

Submitted by anthony on Tue, 2011-12-06 18:17

Article here. I guess Hillary Clinton forgot to mention this when she was criticizing Israel for their unfair treatment of women. Excerpt:

'The United Nations' Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has determined that Israel discriminates against divorced fathers and has called upon Israel to cancel the Tender Years Clause that grants automatic custody over children in divorce cases to their mothers. Israel is said to be the last country in the world not to have canceled the clause.

In the concluding remarks of meetings held in Geneva in November and December, the committee wrote that:

"The Committee is concerned that, in the case of a divorce, custody of children up to the age of six is always given to mothers, and that fathers are often required to pay child support awards that exceed their income, and if not that their freedom of movement is seriously curtailed. The Committee is concerned that divorced fathers often are required to visit their children in supervised visitation centers during their working hours, which leads to the accumulation of work absences and the risk of dismissal.
"The Committee recommends that the State party amend the Capacity and Guardianship Law so that custody of children up to the age of six is not always given to mothers, and ensure that child support awards do not lead to an inadequate standard of living for the father."'

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Comments

This is great news. I mean, really great. The UN has been on an anti-male rampage for years, ignoring the rights of men and the brutal and untenable circumstances they are put in by political regimes bent on using them as cannon fodder while decrying how bad it is for women! And I don't deny it is, but what is utterly astounding is that damn near every dead body on a battlefield is that of a man, with most instances of gendercide being leveled against boys and men, and the UN by and large sits back and says and does nothing. But if there's a program to be created to help women/girls do anything? It can't get funded enough.

I am not saying this is proof that the UN has turned over anything like a new leaf. I am saying that is is an unexpectedly good development.

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Submitted by Matt on Wed, 2011-12-07 02:29

I agree, Matt. This also does seem to show at least a little bit of a trend, because within the past few years the UN also chastised Australia for discriminating against fathers, and the European Court of Human Rights got all over German for its laws denying custody right to unmarried fathers absent the moms' consent. I'm hoping this continues. It's still a long fight but this is a fantastic and encouraging start. This can certainly be used in advocating for the formation of commissions on men at the international and national levels. NCFM is working on that right now with the UN. Thanks for posting this. The UN is still very hypocritical but this is a start.

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Submitted by Marc A. on Wed, 2011-12-07 23:43