Controversial Children’s Bill adopted – with amendments

AFTER three years of intensive public debate and after being referred to parliamentary committees several times, the controversial Children’s Status Bill was finally passed in the National Assembly yesterday – along with 16 amendments tabled by Minster of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, Marlene Mungunda.

The legislation aims to provide for equal treatment for children born in and out of wedlock and regulate custody, guardianship and inheritance for them. MPs battled through the mainly technical amendments when the first ones were tabled on Tuesday.Herero Paramount Chief Kuaima Riruako called the quick re-tabling of the Bill with many amendments “illegal”.MPs adopted the report of the relevant Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Bill on Monday only, after the National Council referred it back to the House.”It is actually a whole new Bill.We were not consulted on the new amendments (beforehand),” Riruako complained on Tuesday.According to Mungunda, however, the amendments were distributed among MPs two weeks ago.Swapo Chief Whip Ben Amathila rose to propose that the Bill with its new amendments be referred back once again to a Parliamentary Committee to “look at it afresh”.But MP George Kaiyamo, who chairs the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resources, Social and Community Development that dealt with the Bill, rejected this and was supported by Deputy Speaker Doreen Sioka.Yesterday, Mungunda tabled the remaining amendments without opposition except from Chief Riruako.The Bill was then adopted.While most concerns raised by civil society and non-governmental organisations are dealt with in the latest amendments, the issue of joint custody over children of unmarried parents living together and the appointment of guardians had not been resolved satisfactorily.The new law provides for unmarried parents, whether they are cohabitating or not, to agree who will act as primary custodian and guardian.If there is no agreement, either parent (or someone acting on behalf of the child) can apply to the children’s court for a decision.If a child’s best interest is not being protected, the person with physical custody of the child can apply to any court (including a traditional court) for interim custody.In the interim, while there is no agreement or court decision, the child will have no legal custodian or guardian.”If there is no court order or legal agreement, no parent has a right to claim maintenance because no one is the legal guardian,” Liz Frank of the Gender Sector of the Namibia Non-Governmental Organisations Forum (Nangof) said yesterday.”Despite the fact that the biology of child-bearing insists that the mother would have actual physical custody of the newborn child without a court order, no parent would have the right to consent to urgent medical procedures.”Frank further criticised that in an attempt to be gender-neutral, the new legislation “ignored the physical realities of birth and breastfeeding”.She also said society itself was not gender-neutral.Traditional courts could be influenced by customary laws, which often discriminated against women, while domestic violence was bound to play a role in many cases where custody and guardianship were contested, she said in a statement.The new law should work “to protect our children based on the current situation in Namibia, rather than on a fantasy that suggests there are no differences between the sexes”.MPs battled through the mainly technical amendments when the first ones were tabled on Tuesday.Herero Paramount Chief Kuaima Riruako called the quick re-tabling of the Bill with many amendments “illegal”.MPs adopted the report of the relevant Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Bill on Monday only, after the National Council referred it back to the House.”It is actually a whole new Bill.We were not consulted on the new amendments (beforehand),” Riruako complained on Tuesday.According to Mungunda, however, the amendments were distributed among MPs two weeks ago.Swapo Chief Whip Ben Amathila rose to propose that the Bill with its new amendments be referred back once again to a Parliamentary Committee to “look at it afresh”.But MP George Kaiyamo, who chairs the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resources, Social and Community Development that dealt with the Bill, rejected this and was supported by Deputy Speaker Doreen Sioka.Yesterday, Mungunda tabled the remaining amendments without opposition except from Chief Riruako.The Bill was then adopted.While most concerns raised by civil society and non-governmental organisations are dealt with in the latest amendments, the issue of joint custody over children of unmarried parents living together and the appointment of guardians had not been resolved satisfactorily.The new law provides for unmarried parents, whether they are cohabitating or not, to agree who will act as primary custodian and guardian.If there is no agreement, either parent (or someone acting on behalf of the child) can apply to the children’s court for a decision.If a child’s best interest is not being protected, the person with physical custody of the child can apply to any court (including a traditional court) for interim custody.In the interim, while there is no agreement or court decision, the child will have no legal custodian or guardian.”If there is no court order or legal agreement, no parent has a right to claim maintenance because no one is the legal guardian,” Liz Frank of the Gender Sector of the Namibia Non-Governmental Organisations Forum (Nangof) said yesterday.”Despite the fact that the biology of child-bearing insists that the mother would have actual physical custody of the newborn child without a court order, no parent would have the right to consent to urgent medical procedures.”Frank further criticised that in an attempt to be gender-neutral, the new legislation “ignored the physical realities of birth and breastfeeding”.She also said society itself was not gender-neutral.Traditional courts could be influenced by customary laws, which often discriminated against women, while domestic violence was bound to play a role in many cases where custody and guardianship were contested, she said in a statement.The new law should work “to protect our children based on the current situation in Namibia, rather than on a fantasy that suggests there are no differences between the sexes”.