Rights
in Family
Attorney
General of Botswana v Unity Dow, Court of Appeals of Botswana,
(1992) (103 ILR 128, [1992] LRC (Const) 623)
Citizenship law under which a child born of a marriage between
a female national and a male foreigner does not acquire citizenship
is discriminatory and impairs women’s rights with regards
to their children. The Court consulted the Declaration on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Organisation
of African Unity Convention on Non-Discrimination. Details
Marckx
v. Belgium, European Court of Human Rights, Series A, No. 31,
13 June 1979.
An illegitimacy law allowing a family to be formed only by a formal
act of recognition by the mother and limiting the mother’s
capacity to give or bequeath property to the child is discriminatory
and infringes upon the right to respect for family life and the
right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions guaranteed by the European
Convention on Human Rights.
Details or Download
*microsoft
word format
Patricia
Molu v. Cidie Molu, Supreme Court, Port Vila, Vanuatu, 15 May
1998. (In A Digest of Case Law on the Human Rights of Women
[Asia Pacific]. Eds. Forster, Christine, Imrana Jalal, Vedna
Jivan and Madhu Mehra. Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and
Development. 2003, pp.76-8)
The Court overturned the common law presumption that the father
has the right to custody of his children and held that the State
is bound by the Convention of the Rights of the Child and must
award custody to the mother or father based on the best interests
of the child.
Muojekwo
& Ors v. Ejikeme & Ors, Court of Appeal, Nigeria, 9
Dec 1999.
Customs denying female family members inheritance of property
should be eliminated because they are “repugnant to the
principles of natural justice, equity and good sense”
and because Article 5 of CEDAW requires they be eliminated.
Back to top
