The Dominica parliament on Tuesday passed five family related bills to enhance the safety, protection and security of children, women and other vulnerable groups.
The parliament approved an Act to provide for the equal Status of Children to remove all discriminatory provisions in the law relating to a child born out of wedlock.
A bill for the Maintenance of Children Act to bring the existing law into conformity with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as a bill relating to the maintenance of spouses and parents also found favour with parliamentarians. Among other objectives, the bills aim to streamline the enforcement of spousal, parental and child maintenance payments.
A bill for an Act to provide greater protection for victims of domestic violence and to make provisions for the granting of protection orders; and a bill for an Act to provide for the care and protection of children and for the operation of adoption services were also approved.
The Domestic Violence Act will empower the Court to grant protection orders and provide for arrests by police officers among other related matters, while the Care and Adoption Act proposes appropriate laws and policies which consider the best interest of children as well as the parents involved in the adoption process.
“The bills before the house represent this Government’s long-standing policy of providing care, protection and security for all citizens. The bills meet our objectives to create fair and equitable systems in which all citizens are accounted for and their rights prioritized,” Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said.
“The series of laws offers protections for spouses in divorce; parents and grandparents unable to care for themselves; children who are abused and neglected; and victims of domestic abuse.
“By bringing these measures to the parliament, we are demonstrating our seriousness about the protection of our children, women and the elderly, whose rights are most often trampled upon,” the Prime Minister added.
