Family Separation as a Violation of International Law
Devastating to the individuals involved and frequently destructive in its long-term impact on cultural groups and entire societies, the involuntary separation of families is a widespread problem that deserves increased attention as an issue of international human rights. Today, the international legal system is beginning to address the concerns of the family and the need for justice within the family, and to develop norms that in many circumstances treat involuntary family separation as a violation of international law. Its approach, however, has been fragmentary and inconsistent, viewing family separation through particular lenses, such as children's rights or privacy, without establishing a coherent framework that brings these various perspectives together. In this article, we identify and compare the emerging principles of international law that relate to the issue of family separation and elaborate on them in a way that, we hope, will help to build such a framework. Our analysis focuses on several case studies, including Australia's long history of removing Aboriginal children from their parents, recent anti-polygamy policies in France, current immigration and child welfare laws in the United States, and mass family separation in crisis situations worldwide. Each of these varied cases reflects one or more of the many facets of the problem of family separation, including the cultural significance of the family, the difficulty of defining "family," the balancing of interests and rights among different members of the family, and the balancing of these individuals' rights against the broader social, political, or economic interests of society or the state. In addition, each case tests the boundaries of possible international norms addressing this problem. Issues involving the integrity of families are difficult for international law to resolve because they involve a variety of competing values, values that are often both passionately held and deeply contested among and within cultures. These include the rights and interests of individual family members, including the special rights of children as well as the rights of adults to form relationships,
Open Non-monogamies
This chapter discusses the recent literature1 on open non-monogamies, or non-monogamous arrangements that are known about by, at the very least, all the involved intimate partners. (This specifically excludes a consideration of the growing parallel literature on secret non-monogamies (e.g. infidelity adultery and cheating) addressed in relation to monogamy and marriage in Ziegler, Conley, Moors, Matsick, & Rubin, Monogamy, this volume.)
Does Work Pay? An Analysis of the Work Incentives under TANF
This analysis finds that working 20 hours per week at minimum wage increases income by an average of 50 percent over cash assistance in the 12 states studied. Public Policy contributes much to making work pay. The interaction of programs such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, and state decisions on cash benefits, earnings disregards, Food Stamps, access to child care, and health insurance create powerful economic incentives to work.