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News and views from The Backbone Collective which advocates for women and children who have experienced violence or abuse and who are enduring further harm from New Zealand's Family Court. 

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Kiwi Kids Support Sisters' Stand Against Family Court

Kiwi Kids Support Sisters' Stand Against Family Court

Kids around New Zealand are playing boardgames in support of sisters who are protesting about their lack of rights as children involved in the Family Court.

Children around New Zealand are playing boardgames to support the Kiwi sisters who have organised an online protest against the Family Court. They say the Court does not listen to children's wishes and is discriminating against them based on their a…

Children around New Zealand are playing boardgames to support the Kiwi sisters who have organised an online protest against the Family Court. They say the Court does not listen to children's wishes and is discriminating against them based on their age. To get involved, post photos to Instagram of your kids playing boardgames using the hashtag #freeusnz

Sisters Bella and Grace are, saying the Family Court goes against children's wishes and rights, which contravenes UN legislature including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Declaration of Human Rights which states that everyone - regardless of age - has the right to be protected by law. 

Kiwi sisters Bella (left) and Grace are protesting about how the Family Curt treats children in New Zealand They are staging a sit-in protest on behalf of all children in the Family Court, during which they will post photos of themselves playing boa…

Kiwi sisters Bella (left) and Grace are protesting about how the Family Curt treats children in New Zealand They are staging a sit-in protest on behalf of all children in the Family Court, during which they will post photos of themselves playing boardgames. 

Grace and Bella and are staging a four-day sit-in from Oct 10 to 13, during which they are playing boardgames and posting photos online with the hashtag #freeusnz. 

Other children have been playing games in support and sending in their photos. The Backbone Collective fully supports Grace and Bella’s calls for justice for New Zealand children and has agreed to distribute on the girls' behalf all photos sent in to Backbone in support of the protest.

The Instagram feed below shows a stream of support from kids around the country. If you and your children would like to support the girls, please post photos or messages of support on your Instagram account using #freeusnz.

If you would prefer to post anonymously, please email them to info@backbone.org.nz and we will post them on your behalf on Backbone's online networks.

Negative messages suggesting that the adults in Grace and Bella’s lives have engineered this protest or should be silencing the girls from taking this stand will be ignored. Grace and Bella have started this action completely of their own accord. Their words and their actions are their own - not those of the adults in their lives – this is their protest.

NB: Backbone recommends that photos do not identify children. A good way to take a photo is to stand above a board game being played on the floor and to take the photo of the tops of kids' heads and their hands etc. 

 

Instagram feed showing a stream of support from kids around the country taking photos of themselves playing boardgames using #freeusnz

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