CAIRO: Egypt s ruling party announced plans to amend the current personal status law, in place since 1929, according to MP Mohamed Khalil Kwaitah.
National Democratic Party MP Kwaitah said that he has proposed amending Article 20 of Law 25, which grants visitation rights to grandparents, uncles, aunts and other family members of children whose parents are divorced.
The current law only grants visitation rights to the non-custodian parent, which Kwaitah said “severs all relationships and ties between family members.
Another proposed amendment would make DNA tests obligatory in paternity cases.
Kwaitah says that currently marriage is the only proof of paternity. This, he said, should be changed to match the growing trend of illegal marriages where in most cases fathers deny their children.
According to the current personal status law, the court cannot force a father to undergo a DNA test.
Kwaitah said that the PA s proposed amendments will be discussed in the next parliamentary session after “making sure that they comply with Sharia.
However, Sheikh Mahmoud Hamdi Megahed, a member of the PA’s religious affairs committee, believes that the current personal status law should be left intact.
He singled out the proposal pertaining to DNA testing as the most controversial one, saying it would cause problems between married couples.
The new law, according to Megahed, may be interpreted by men as biased towards women because it could “force them to accept things [undergoing DNA tests] against their will, which will create problems.
However, Gamal Eid, chairman of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), supports the proposed changes to the law.
“Although it is the government’s [initiative], there are many strong points pertaining to human rights as well as women s rights in Egypt, he said.
Eid said that only human rights organizations should be involved in amending the law, as opposed to Islamic scholars. “The new law complies with the spirit of Islam, but not in a literal sense.
Earlier this month, a network of non-governmental organizations in Egypt, headed by the Egyptian Association for Community Participation and Enhancement (EACPE), were working on changing the personal status law to correspond to the needs of modern society.
