Qatari official attends UK law meet
Originally published in Gulf Times on August 5, 2009
The Doha International Institute for Family Studies and Development (DIIFSD) has participated in the launch of the Family Law Review in London. DIIFSD family research division director Hassan Hammoud represented the organisation, which also sponsored the review launch, an initiative of the UK-based independent think thank, Centre for Social Justice in London.
The review, entitled ‘Every Family Matters: An in-depth review of family law in Britain’, was carried out across UK to formulate a revision of British law regarding the family. The underlying goal of the review was to establish that marriage should be supported in governmental policies as well as in the law. It aspired at verifying that the “two-parent families represent the best environment for both children and adults”.
“The initiators of the review believe that the parliament has not given any sufficient attention to family laws in Britain and Wales,” said and official. “They also discovered that some of the laws outlined in the parliament are outdated and not in line with the changes that family life is constantly undergoing.”
Among reforms such as emphasis on the need for maintaining of the institution of marriage, and encouraging couples to attend pre-marriage counselling, the analysis also called to enable couples to have accessible education on pre-marriage information which would include “lessons about family relationships, including differences between marriage and cohabitation and the impact of separation on children”.
While representing one of the most comprehensive studies of family law reform for 40 years, it focused on the “relationship between the law and family breakdown and legal aspects of marriage, divorce, cohabitation, parental rights and the rights of the extended family”. It commenced in autumn 2007, when it was commissioned to a group of experts from the fields of family law and social policy. The official added: “The entire review was found to be completely aligned with the Doha Declaration,” adopted by the UN on December 6, 2004, in New York.
As Published
