Children’s rights after divorce at the centre of legal regulation
Libya – Rafia Al-Barnawi, head of the Al-Rawnak Organisation for Women and Children, said the child’s best interests and basic rights must remain the focus of legal regulation after divorce, explaining that this covers custody, visitation and contact with the non-custodial parent, and maintenance, as well as the child’s rights to health care and education.
Custody, visitation and maintenance disputes
Speaking to Sputnik, Al-Barnawi said the main problems that arise between parents include, in her words, disputes over custody, visitation and maintenance and the non-enforcement of court rulings, in addition to disagreements over education, medical treatment and travel.
She warned against using the child as a means of pressure or revenge between parents, and against the psychological and social effects that may follow.
Calls to develop legal procedures
She stressed the importance of developing legal procedures to ensure the swift resolution of custody, maintenance and visitation cases, providing flexible mechanisms to organise contact with both parents, and supporting family mediation and reconciliation and the use of social workers and psychologists in severe disputes.
Shared parental responsibility
Al-Barnawi emphasised the need to take the child’s views into account according to age and maturity and to strengthen the concept of shared parental responsibility, stressing that divorce ends the marital relationship but does not end the child’s relationship with either parent or remove either parent’s responsibility towards the child, and that the child is not a party to the dispute and should not bear its consequences.
