<lj-cut text="Irish boy abandoned by the State"><font size="+1"><b><br> <br> Irish boy abandoned by the State</b></font> <p>Mary Raftery <mraftery @irish-times.ie=""><br>Irish Times:&nbsp; 04/08/2005</mraftery></p> <p>Annoying, isn't it, that one little boy could cause such a headache. At least now, all of the various State bodies involved can breathe a sigh of relief. The Attorney General has intervened, and in doing so neatly provided them with the get-out clause that, as the matter is sub judice, they cannot comment... How convenient, writes <strong>Mary Raftery</strong>.</p> <p>I refer of course to the case of Tristan Dowse, who recently turned four years old. Tristan is Irish. He lives in an Indonesian orphanage. His parents live in Azerbaijan. They abandoned him two years ago.</p> <p>Two events have recently brought the case of young Tristan back into the limelight. The first is that the Indonesian authorities have arrested a number of people allegedly involved in a baby-selling racket. It appears that Tristan may have been one of these and that his adoption at a few months old by his Irish father, Joe Dowse, and his Azerbaijani mother, Lala, may have been illegal. Through a solicitor both parents have denied involvement in "baby-brokering".</p> <p>The second event is the initiation in the Irish courts of a case being taken by the Attorney General, Rory Brady, to force Tristan's parents to take care of him. Given that they are in Azerbaijan, and that Tristan is in Indonesia, it is difficult to perceive how any decision here could be enforced by an Irish court.</p> <p>So why then is the case being taken at all? The explanation appears to lie in the desire of the Irish authorities that Joe and Lala Dowse should apply to the courts to nullify their adoption of Tristan.</p> <p>Should such an application be granted, then obviously they could not be compelled to care for him, and the State would likely drop its case against them.</p> <p>Since Tristan's adoption received full court recognition here in Ireland, it can only be nullified on the application of his parents. Until then, Tristan remains their child and also an Irish citizen.</p> <p>It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the ultimate aim of the Irish State in all of this is to divest itself of any responsibility to Tristan by engineering a process whereby eventually the child's Irish citizenship would be removed from him. Whether this is in Tristan's best interests is something which does not appear to be of much importance.</p> <p>This small Irish child is in desperate need of someone to speak for him, to be able to call on the necessary professional expertise to determine what is best for him, and to be in a position to argue this before the courts.</p> <p>That his voice be heard in any case affecting him should be a fundamental right. It is, however, one which is denied to Tristan.</p> <p>In the past few years, the Irish Government has given increasing recognition to the interests of children through the establishment of a number of State bodies.</p> <p>We have the National Children's Office, one of whose goals is that children should "have a voice in matters which affect them". This office has remained silent on the plight of Tristan Dowse.</p> <p>Then there is the Ombudsman for Children, Emily Logan. As stated in her first annual report, two of the key principles underlying her office are the right of children to have a say in decisions that affect them, and that those decisions "are in the best interests of the child". This office has also been silent on the issue of a right to be heard for Tristan.</p> <p>Emily Logan told me that she has received legal advice to the effect that her office has no role in his case. On the issue of whether she could have a function in advocating that the little boy should have someone to speak for him, she said that "it's a very complex case and it would be inappropriate for me to get involved".</p> <p>To be fair to the Children's Ombudsman, she has produced an excellent report on the Constitution, arguing that the legal protection given to the rights of children as distinct from the rights of parents is inadequate. However worthwhile, that is of little use to Tristan, caught in the middle of legal wrangles where the most fundamental decisions will be taken about his future - including his nationality - without anyone to represent his interests.</p> <p>Meanwhile, the Indonesian authorities appear to want to cut Tristan off from outsiders. In the state orphanage where he lives, it has been reported that they don't call him Tristan any more. His name is now Erwin. Non-Indonesians have been banned from visiting him. One local child protection official has stated that Tristan "doesn't want to go anywhere near a white person now".</p> <p>It remains to be seen how our own Department of Foreign Affairs, or indeed the Adoption Board or even the Department of Health and Children, will respond to this treatment of an Irish citizen. All have a clear duty to vindicate his rights. However, perhaps they, like his parents, will be happy to see an end to the affair by having him disappear behind the closed doors of an institution - abandoned, defenceless and, finally, declared no longer Irish.</p> <p><font arial="" helvetica="" face="" size="1"><i><br>© The Irish Times</i></font><br> <lj-cut></p>