In Ivory Coast, adulterous children the same as legitimate children

On Wednesday, May 29, 4 bills were unanimously passed by the RHDP parliamentary group. These bills deal with marriage, parentage, minority, and inheritance. It implies that adulterous children are at the same level as legitimate children

“But the law we are discussing today is the law on filiation. Previously, a married man needed the prior consent of his wife to recognize a child he had out of wedlock.”

The man, to establish the birth certificate, had to be provided with the act of the commissioner of justice in which it is mentioned that the information was brought to the wife.

The bill establishes the equal rights of children with regard to the establishment of paternal filiation through the removal of the difference of treatment between adulterous and incestuous children, on the one hand, and other children, (child born in marriage, simple natural child). It puts an end to the use of the infamous word “adulterous child” or “incestuous child”. It provides that every child has the right to establish his parentage with respect to his authors (Article 4).

“As a consequence of this principle, the provisions that required the prior consent of the wife for the husband’s recognition of her adulterous child have been removed (sections 22 and 23 of the current Act). It is substituted, the prior information of the wife before the recognition of the child (Article 22 of the draft law),” he explains.

The provision prohibiting the recognition by parents of a child born of an incestuous trade (Article 24 of the current law) is also deleted.

According to the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Sansan Kambilé, “the law must be fair and equitable. Our Constitution says in its article 4, all Ivorians are born and remain free in law. No one can be privileged, or discriminated against” meaning that “adultery is a cause of divorce; punish and condemn the one who committed adultery. But do not blame the one who did not ask for anything. It’s a question of responsibility. No act is imputable to that being who is born.”

In addition, the man can disavow a child born of his wife if he proves that he is not responsible.