New Family Law Passed 09-12-2003   Dozens of women in the gallery of the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, burst into song on Tuesday, as the Assembly unanimously passed a new family law, defending the rights of children and women.

Dozens of women in the gallery of the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, burst into song on Tuesday, as the Assembly unanimously passed a new family law, defending the rights of children and women.

The bill had passed its first reading in April, but then went for amendment in joint sittings of the Assembly's Legal Affairs and Social Affairs Commissions.

The two controversial areas the commissions had to deal with were the age for marriage, and adoption.

They agreed with the government that the age of marriage should be 18 for both sexes: under the previous law (dating from 1966) it was 16 for boys and just 14 for girls, a provision which looks like legitimised child abuse.

However, the government's original bill allowed exceptions: girls could "under special circumstances" (a euphemism for pregnancy) marry at the age of 16, with their parents consent.

The commissions thought this violated the constitutional equality between the sexes, and so amended the clause to ensure that 16 year olds of either sex could marry "under exceptional circumstances".

As for adoption, the commissions agreed with the government position that any couple who have been living together (married or not) for at least three years, and are aged 25 or over, can adopt. So can single people who can provide "moral and material conditions that guarantee the healthy growth of the child".

The government had wanted an upper age limit banning people over 40 from adopting, unless the child is the son or daughter of a deceased or separated partner. The commissions changed this upper age limit to 50.

Adoption is likely to be of growing importance, because of the alarming numbers of Mozambican children being orphaned as their parents succumb to the AIDS epidemic.

The rest of the government's original bill was left pretty much alone - which means that, in principle, it strikes a massive blow at male supremacy. For the new law replaces huge chunks of the colonial Civil Code, which up until now had not been rewritten, although they are in blatant contradiction with the Mozambican constitution.

Under the Civil Code, the head of the family was automatically a man, women were subject to the "marital power" of their husbands, women required their husbands' consent before taking any paid job, and all the property of the household was administered by the husband.

This has all been swept away in the new law. The husband will no longer automatically represent the family - either partner may do so. The right of husband or wife to work may not be restricted by the other partner. The wife no longer needs to ask her husband's permission before contracting debts.

The couple will still be expected to live in the same house - but not necessarily the husband's house.

Under the Civil Code, only civil marriage received legal recognition. Which means that only a tiny handful of Mozambicans were regarded as properly "married", since the vast majority of couples never bothered to go through the red tape and expense involved in weddings at registry offices.

The new law extends legal recognition to religious and traditional marriages, and also, for the first time, recognises "de facto unions" - i.e. couples living together in a stable relationship who do not bother with any form of marriage. This is probably the most common form of union in Mozambican cities.

Any couple who have lived together for at least a year will be regarded as a "de facto union", and the children of this union will have the same protection as children of any marriage. If such a union breaks up, the man will no longer be able to shrug off responsibility for his children, and may find himself obliged to pay maintenance to his ex-partner.

But both the government and the Assembly's commissions resisted all pressure from traditionalists to legitimise polygamous unions. Some of this pressure comes from moslems - and was partly defused in April when Justice Minister Jose Abudo, who is himself a practicing moslem, spoke out strongly against polygamy, describing it as "an attack upon the dignity of women".

The new law does not outlaw polygamy - that would be quite impractical - but neither does it recognise or encourage it. But it does make clear that all the wives in a polygamous union are to be treated equally in terms of inheritance when their husband dies.

The amendments brought by the commissions proved entirely uncontroversial, and the Family Law was passed without further discussion, unanimously and by acclamation.

allafrica.com