Paternity law at Advisory Council

September 22, 2008 6:49 AM

The proposal for a bill which could amongst others lead to a judicial declaration of paternity, has been accepted and passed on for advice to the Advisory Council (RvA) by the Council of Ministers (RvM) of the Antilles. As soon as the advice is in, the bill can be sent to Parliament for consideration. Once the bill is passed by Parliament, the law can be promulgated and children will have extra protection for their rights.

“This law is necessary. Without this law, you cannot really speak of safeguarding the rights of the child”, says Minister Omayra Leeflang of Education, Culture, Public Health, and Social Development (PAR).
“A child had nothing to do with his or her arrival on this world. We must therefore protect that child as much as we can. With this law, we take it further than what was laid down in the Civil Code of 2001 regarding the rights of the child”, said the Minister. “With this law, a child can legally demand that his or her father acknowledges him or her as a natural child.”

The Minister furthermore said that this bill has traveled a long way, in which individual persons and committees have had a substantial input.
“There was concern for example about possible problems regarding the law of inheritance and such, but the knot has been cut and the bill is now at the Advisory Council for advice. As we all know, this is a respected advisory body that works completely autonomously and it will bring out its advice in due time. The process can then be carried through.”

(Source: National Newspaper Amigoe)

18 September, 2008