ZAGREB, June 26 (Hina) - Croatia's government on Thursday unanimously endorsed a final draft family law changing, among other things, the definition of a mother, who previously was considered only the woman who gave birth to the child
in question.
ZAGREB, June 26 (Hina) - Croatia's government on Thursday
unanimously endorsed a final draft family law changing, among other
things, the definition of a mother, who previously was considered
only the woman who gave birth to the child in question. #L#
Under the bill, the woman with whose egg the child was conceived is
given the possibility to contest the motherhood of the woman who
gave birth to the child. Like fatherhood, motherhood becomes a
refutable presumption because it will be possible to dispute or
prove it in court.
Having acknowledged some parliamentary remarks, the government now
defines a common-law marriage as a union between an unmarried man
and an unmarried woman who have lived together for at least three
years and have a child together.
The government is willing to retain the possibility to allow
underage marriages in justifiable cases, and to extend the age
difference between an adoptive parent and an adoptive child to 45
years.
The ministers had no remarks to the draft family law, with the
exception of Deputy PM Ante Simonic of the Croatian Peasant Party
(HSS), who welcomed the decision that same-sex unions will not be
legislated in the family law but in a separate one, as the HSS has
been advocating.
The right to diversity and personal choice has to be respected,
Simonic said, applauding the fact that a bill on same-sex unions
gives homosexuals living together the right to support their
partners and the possibility to regulate property relations.
Said bill is the first Croatian act regulating homosexual unions.
The ministers unanimously backed the government's proposal to
punish family violence more harshly.
For the first time, abusers could be removed for as long as three
months from the flat or house they live in with the victims. Abusers
could also be issued with a restraining order for a period of up to
one year.
The government also forwarded into parliament a bill on gender
equality.
(hina) ha