The new Family Code will be submitted to a popular referendum on Sunday, September 25 after a broad consultation process in which more than 6,480,000 Cubans participated.
In a huge exercise of participation, legislators, experts, academics and the population in general had the opportunity to contribute to the draft Code and come up with a much more solid proposal, which has been described as impregnated with popular wisdom and a high human content by the Minister of Justice, Oscar Silvera Martínez during its presentation before the National Assembly.
Granma newspapers summarizes the opinion of specialists on some of the most innovative aspects on a text that has been recognized for its inclusive and fair character.
PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY: NEW CONCEPT TO REPLACE PARENTAL AUTHORITY
Prosecutor Luis Palenzuela Paez, an expert on Civil and Family Law and a member of the temporary working group that drafted the new Code, has stated that the concept of parental responsibility, beyond prejudices and ill-intentioned campaigns, does justice to the relationship that should prevail among family members.
In an interview granted to the web site of the Attorney General's Office of the Republic, the renowned jurist affirmed that today's children do not resemble those of 1975, who were often treated as objects.
The technological and social development achieved throughout these years has elevated them to subjects of law, with the possibility of expressing their interests and achieving respect for their progressive legal autonomy.
According to Palenzuela Paez, the concept of parental authority is marked by part of the darkest part of the history of family. Its origin is the pater familia, an old figure of the Roman family, who held the power and the right of life and death over the members of the family who were subordinate to him.
It is by virtue of this right that a father could kill children born with physical defects, sell them or whip them with total impunity.
Power means command, lordship, authority, which is in conflict with the meaning and scope of parental responsibility, whose nomenclature advocates relations of fraternity, respect and consultation, stressed the prestigious jurist.
Therefore, it is not by chance that the Family Code endorses in its articles principles such as gender equality, the obligation of parents to provide their children with emotional stability and to contribute to the free development of their personality based on their capacities, aptitudes and vocation, he added.
AGING WITHOUT VIOLENCE
The new Family Code protects the interests of the elderly people of either sex who are 60 years of age or older, and people in vulnerable situations -those who have a weakened personal, family or relational and socioeconomic environment, and as a result, present a risk situation that can lead to social exclusion.
The relationships that develop in the family environment are based on dignity as the supreme value, and among the principles that govern the Article 3 of the text are respect for the wishes and preferences of the elderly and people with disabilities, equality and non-discrimination in the family environment, solidarity, the pursuit of happiness and respect, among others.
It also recognizes the role of grandmothers and grandfathers in the intergenerational transmission of traditions, culture, education, values and affection.
Moreover, Title II of the new Code establishes matters related to discrimination and violence in the family environment, considering that any action or omission that has the purpose or result of excluding or marginalizing for reasons of sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, ethnic origin, skin color, gender identity, religious belief, disability, place of origin, or any other condition that implies a distinction detrimental to human dignity is considered discrimination.
The expressions of family violence can be verbal, physical, psychological, moral, sexual, economic or patrimonial, negligence and neglect, whether by action or omission, direct or indirect. All matters of this nature are subject to urgent judicial protection and whoever considers themselves to be a victim or has knowledge of an event of this type, may request protection before the Municipal Court, which is competent to do so, through a (summary) civil process, regardless of criminal liability.
RIGHTS FOR THOSE WHO WERE INVISIBLE BEFORE THE LAW
Even though the Constitution in force since 2019 endorses the right of each person to form a family in Article 81, regardless of the type of organization chosen to do so, the current Code does not recognize the union of same-sex couples and, therefore, does not allow them to demand their rights before a court.
Even those who had shared a lifetime together were invisible before the law. For this reason, Yamila González Ferrer, vice-president of the National Union of Jurists of Cuba, explained in the program Familias, of Cuban Television, that the constitutional text advocates for effective equality, and does not discriminate on the basis of sex or gender identity, hence the adoption of a new Code of Families, which guarantees legal action for all actors, is very important.
It is not fair to limit the rights of a person because of his or her sexual orientation or the family he or she decided to form, the official said. She warned that, contrary to what some claim, this new body of law does not limit the rights of those who have always had them, but extends that right to the whole society, in response to the legal mandate endorsed by the majority of Cubans in the Magna Carta.
THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
Another novelty of the new Family Code is the use of a terminology more adjusted to ensure the full exercise of the rights of persons with disabilities, on an equal footing with others, in line with international standards and Article 89 of the Constitution.
Thus, some of the constitutional rights it supports include those directly linked to the protection of vulnerable persons, in order to facilitate their full enjoyment of their life in society.
Some of the rights that are now protected in the new Code include the right to full sexual and reproductive rights in the social and family environment, regardless of the situation of disability of the person, and the rights to self-determination, preferences, independence and equal opportunities in family life.
Also noteworthy is the introduction of de facto guardianship and foster care institutions to ensure greater and more efficient care for the person with disabilities by trying to keep them in their usual social environment or incorporate them into a family environment, facilitate their integration, respect their right to live in a family and avoid their internment when it is inappropriate or undesirable.
Also new is the family ombudsman's office, an institution in charge of protecting, ensuring the exercise of their rights, and restoring them in the event of a violation of the rights of children and adolescents, people with disabilities, elderly people, victims of violence or discrimination in any of its manifestations and of any other person in a situation of vulnerability in the family environment.
CAREGIVERS AND CARE
Cuba is currently among the top three countries in Latin America with the highest rate of population aging, and forecasts indicate it will be at the top of the list tha in the coming years.
Experts consider it a challenge for the Law, since the current Family Code - in force since 1975 - does not make this phenomenon visible in all its magnitude.
Leonardo Pérez Gallardo, Doctor of Juridical Sciences and professor of Civil Law and Notarial Law at the Law School of the University of Havana, pointed out that this is one of the gaps that the new Family Code comes to cover. Based on accumulated experiences, the regulation recently approved by the National Assembly of People's Power and now pending a popular referendum, expands the rights of caregivers.
The Right of Succession, provided for in the new Code favors those who have assumed the care of the person in need for the whole time and makes the figure of the caregiver visible, giving him/her the fair place he/she deserves, the specialist pointed out during an intervention in the program Familias on Cuban Television.
For example, in the case of someone who is in the care of one of his or her parents, it gives him or her the possibility of claiming help from his or her siblings, including economic help and, in the case of death, claiming double the estate to be inherited.
