ARTICLE - NEW CHILD SUPPORT LAW

FORMER MINISTER URGES FREE DNA TESTING WITH NEW CHILD SUPPORT LAW
(Haiti Libre) -

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Former Minister for Women, Marie Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue awaits President Martelly to enact the law on paternity, that was passed by the Haitian parliament giving the state the authority to seize property and income from persons who do not provide financial support to their children.

Former Minister Lassegue who has worked to see the legislation passed is now working with organizations in Haiti to offer to women and men free DNA testing to determine a parent when needed.

The vote bringing forth the law on paternity passed in the upper house, the Senate, on April 12, 2012 and had already passed in the Chamber of Deputies back in 2009.

The law on paternity states that if a father denies his biological relationship to a child and refuses to recognize it, he will be presumed to be the father if it is established that during the period of conception of the child, the mother maintained intimate relations with him...

According to procedures established by this Act, the application of paternity may be brought by the mother before the courts. In this case, the woman or her child will be allowed to produce all types of evidence including DNA testing.

The law on responsible paternity and filiation proposed and seconded by Lassegue while she was Minister for Women and Women's Rights obtained, has received a favorable welcome from several women's organizations, such as the organization fanm Kay (Women's House), Solidarity of Haitian Women (Sofa), Fanm Deside-Jacmel (Southeast) who had applauded the final vote on this legislation and continue to wait for its enactment.

Following the prescription of the Haitian Constitution, a law only applies after being published in Le Moniteur, the official newspaper, of the Presidency of the Republic.

Marie Laurence Jocelyn Lassègue believes the law on responsible paternity and filiation contributes to the fight against the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and children.