he Inter-American bar Association headquatered in Washington, DC, is a professional association of attorneys and jurists from North, Central and South America as well as the Caribbean. The home page of their web site states:
“Founded on May 16, 1940 by a group of distinguished lawyers and jurists representing forty-four professional organizations and seventeen nations of the western hemisphere, the Inter-American Bar Association (“IABA”) represents a permanent forum for the exchange of professional views and information for lawyers to promote the Rule of Law and protect the democratic institutions in the Americas.”
ne of the most incredulous documents we have seen, the Inter-American Bar Association’s Executive Committee issued a resolution on the Sean Goldman case which TOTALLY IGNORES the applicable international Rule of Law, the HAGUE CONVENTION, questions the paternity of Sean Goldman and calls for a debate! We quote directly from the IABA resolution:
IABA EXECUTIVE COMMITTTEE RESOLVED:
The Executive Committee of the Inter-American Bar Association (IABA) has been made aware of an ongoing custody dispute involving a Brazilian attorney, João
Paulo Lins e Silva, a member of the IABA, and a U.S. citizen, David Goldman, said to be the biological father of the minor in question, SEAN GOLDMAN.At its meeting in San José, Costa Rica, on April 4, 2009, and after due deliberation, the Executive Committee resolved as follows:
1. Respect for the Rule of Law and the sovereignty of States has been a fundamental principle of the IABA since its founding in 1940.
2. The custody of SEAN GOLDMAN is presently at issue before duly constituted courts in Brazil. The decision to be made by the Brazilian judiciary
– which has the constitutional authority, competence and jurisdiction necessary to render such a decision – will be the proper solution to the dispute.3. The IABA trusts and respects the judicial decisions and the sovereignty of the Brazilian state and those of its courts, as it does with every democratic nation.
4. The IABA opposes attempts to influence judicial rulings and legal decisions through pressures and calls for intervention by sources other than those provided by law.
5. The Brazilian judiciary is independent. Brazil is a sovereign state. The IABA rejects any attempt to impugn the integrity and independence of the Brazilian judiciary, especially in a proceeding still pending of final judgment.
6. The Executive Committee of the IABA will call upon its Council and General Assembly to deliberate the matter in the next Annual Meeting of the
IABA, to take place at Nassau, Bahamas, from June 30 to July 4, 2009.
What are they going to debate?
- RESOLVED, that the President of the United States, Barack Obama and Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton should not have asked the President and Foreign Minister of Brazil to abide by the Hague Convention ??
- RESOLVED, That no individual or BringSeanHome.org, or independent news company, or the federal government of the United States of America, is permitted to publicly state or document that the executive and judiciary of the Federative Republic of Brazil have totally failed to fairly and promptly apply the Hague Convention ??
- RESOLVED, that although Brazil has not returned ONE CHILD under the Hague Convention, the parents of +60 abducted American children harbored by Brazil should just SHUT THE HELL UP ??
While we were dumbfounded with the IABA’s Excutive Comittee’s resolution we were flabbergasted to learn that Paulo Lins e Silva will be speaking at the Annual Meeting on the topic:
We didn’t make this stuff up! Ethics? Really Ethics? We can only assume that ethics amongst a group of lawyers is completely different from ethics for the average person or let’s just agree that the Inter-American Bar Association may be “Ethically Challenged.” We’ve been getting some negative push back from the IABA, we guess they want us to SHUT UP TOO and leave their “Good Old Boys Club” alone so they can have a god time in Nassau. We received a hilarious email from a supporter who is a Native American Indian stating that his tribe’s council will perform a weather spirit dance on June 30th to create a tropical depression and dump rain on Nassau for five days and nights!
Subsequent to the IABA resolution the Brazilian based organization, EyeLegal issued an open letter condemning and rebuking the IABA. They don’t “pull any punches.”
Brazil, June 01, 2009.
TO: IABA – Inter-American Bar Association
ATT: Executive CommitteeWe, the Brazilian-based eyeLegal multidisciplinary team of civil rights, acknowledges receipt of the IABA resolution of April 4, 2009, and would like for your organization to consider the following.
We are convinced that Mr. Paulo Lins e Silva drafted or wrote this document, in whole or in part, as well as suggested the tone of the resolution to imply that the IABA sees nothing wrong with the handling of the Goldman case by the Brazilian judiciary.
This resolution is severely flawed.
It is necessary for the IABA to declare formally what is implicitly contained in its resolution, in other words, the denial of the authority of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, because this is the true rule of law which applies in this case, not the sovereignty of States, nor any other “fundamental principle” of the IABA. This case centers on the issue of human rights for which your organization does not demonstrate any concern whatsoever.
Despite your insinuation that Sean Goldman’s paternity is in question, David Goldman is the biological father of Sean and there has never been any doubt about this fact, except perhaps from the IABA which appears to represent Paulo Lins e Silva versus David Goldman.
This is a disgusting and disrespectful manner in which your organization is treating a human being fighting for his son, his own blood.
We are Brazilian citizens and we do not recognize the IABA as having any interest, power or capacity to pronounce anything about the Brazilian judiciary or the Goldman case. Children must be reunited with their parents and the son of your colleague is nothing to this boy.
In truth, we now have in progress a legal maneuver to revoke the Hague Convention in Brazil. It is an action declaring the Hague Convention unconstitutional at our Supreme Court with the aim to suspend the application of the Hague Convention in Brazil.
The Lins e Silva are not telling the truth, and the Brazilian judiciary is not a model of exemption as you state, “… which has the constitutional authority, competence and jurisdiction necessary to render such a decision …”.
The American boy must be returned to his father in the USA, and the correct jurisdiction is New Jersey, where the boy lived before his abduction. The child is not Brazilian nor a double national, because he still cannot opt for this condition, if applicable, and his legal representative is his father, without exploring this issue in more depth.
Today, we are witnessing in Brazil a fraudulent industry of family law. Our judiciary delays and delays the court proceedings to create a very difficult problem and segregate children from their families. This is what is happening to Mr. David Goldman.
This process is a fraud and Mr. Lins e Silva is caught squarely in the middle of all of this.
Everything indicates that the Lins e Silva law firm helped plan the abduction of this minor child from the USA.
Felipe Costa
Project DirectoreyeLegal Team
Global Network for Civil Rights
Membership is open to common citizens in all countries.