United nations crc

F. Collection of child maintenance

137. The Rights of the Child Act devotes a full section to child maintenance and the method for collecting such maintenance. Articles 37 to 40 stipulate the procedures for its collection in various instances, depending on the economic circumstances of the provider. Child maintenance is assessed by the court and is paid from the income, assets and rights of a prisoner to any person who is providing for his children. Maintenance for a child of unknown parentage is paid from such assets as the child may have. If the child has no assets and no one volunteers to pay the child’s maintenance, it is payable by the State.

138. Article 155, paragraph 7, of the same Act provides that any person who, despite his ability to do so, fails to hand over maintenance which he has been ordered to pay shall be punished with a term of imprisonment of not less than one month and not more than six months. The Government collects maintenance from those who have been ordered to pay it and hands it over to the children entitled to it.

139. Difficulties impeding the collection of maintenance:

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  Parental unemployment;
  
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  The death of the father and the advent of other heirs;
  
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  Legal proceedings taken by the father against the mother for maladministration of the maintenance funds.
  

G. Children deprived of family environment

140. Children whose circumstances preclude them from being raised in their natural family environment are guaranteed by law the right to live in another environment and receive alternative care. If the parents are separated or if one of both of them are dead, the child has the right to be in the care and custody of his or her divorced parents, surviving parent or relatives, as well as the right to maintenance if he or she is in need, in accordance with the provisions detailed in the Islamic Shariah and stipulated by law. As for orphan children, children of unknown parentage or children without relatives to undertake their care, under article 110 of the Rights of the Child Act, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour is under obligation to provide alternative care for all those precluded by their family circumstances from being brought up by their families or by a family member who has care and custody.

141. In the event that parents divorce or the father dies, the mother has custody in all cases, provided that she satisfies the necessary conditions, which are that a custodian must have attained legal age and be of sound mind, as well as trustworthy and capable of raising the child and safeguarding his or her physical and moral well-being. The period of custody is nine years for boys and 12 years for girls.

142. Under article 32, the custodian is required to do what is right for the child or, in other words, act in the child’s interest. Maintenance, however, is payable by whomsoever is required to do so under the relevant provisions. The custodian may take the child to his or her own country, unless to do so would cause physical, mental or moral harm to the child. This may mean that the child’s religion, culture and language are preserved, a matter to which due regard must be paid in accordance with the terms of the article. The subject is also covered in further detail under article 142 of the Personal Status Act, which contains a paragraph on separation from parents.

143. Having considered the circumstances and family environment of a child from a broken home, the judge has the right to determine where the child should live or to leave it for the child to choose where to live during the period of custody.

144. As for orphans, children of unknown parentage and children without relatives to undertake their care and custody, article 110 of the Rights of the Child Act stipulates that children in need of alternative care must be placed in an alternative system, which must nurture the child in such a way as to achieve his or her interests. The alternative may be one of the following:

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  A (surrogate) family which takes temporary or permanent custody of the child;
  
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  A social welfare institution which specifically provides live-in facilities for children who have no family (orphans);
  
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  A social welfare institution (juvenile home).
  

145. The Social Development Fund has also established a special social protection department providing technical services to social welfare institutions, including juvenile homes.

146. Difficulties impeding the progress of work in such homes:

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  The inability of these institutions to meet their increasing needs inasmuch as their institution-building is incomplete;
  
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  The inadequacy of expenditure and operational budgets which can in their turn help to diversify and develop service resources with a view to increasing their capability and efficiency when it comes to upgrading more of the activities and services for juvenile rehabilitation and reform, in particular recovery, psychological and social counselling, occupational guidance and vocational training;
  
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  The lack of integrated training and further training programmes designed to build the capacities of psychologists, sociologists, social supervisors, night supervisors, etc., and thus enable them to discharge their tasks and responsibilities in an efficient manner;
  
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  The lack of after-care programmes for juveniles who have completed their stay in such homes.
  

H. Adoption and fostering (kafalah)

147. Islam does not endorse adoption in the sense where the child is given an adopted name. It does, however, endorse and encourage fostering, which serves all of the child’s interests in the same way as adoption, apart from the name. This is to ensure that there is no confusion over kinship and that the child, once adult, is not forbidden from marrying whomsoever he or she is permitted to marry, or does not, as may occur, marry a person to whom marriage is not permitted. Although the foster child does not have the same automatic right as the foster parent’s own children and legitimate heirs to inherit from the foster parent, the latter is entitled to place up to one third of his estate in trust for the foster child, which may amount to more than the share of a legitimate heir.