(c) Basler Zeitung, May 26, 2011. By Andrea Elisabeth Knellwolf.
The regulations currently in force in Switzerland, according to which an unmarried father has no custody rights over children without the mother's consent, or in divorce cases where courts do not even examine custody in detail if the motherobjects, often lead to traumatic estrangement between fathers and their children and violate the European Convention on Human Rights. There is general agreement on this point, and the necessary revision of the Civil Code was initiated in 2005 by a broadly supported motion from CVP National Councillor Reto Wehrli.
Swiss Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga caused a moment of alarm in January of this year when she announced her intention to withdraw the drafted proposal in order to supplement it with a revision of maintenance law. It is to her credit that, following the desperate outcry from fathers' organizations against the delay of the custody bill, she is now open to the idea of quickly bringing the new custody regulations before Parliament.
It is certainly unacceptable that fathers fail to properly fulfill their child support obligations, or that it is usually the woman who has to resort to social welfare after a divorce. Therefore, there is no objection to the imminent revision of child support law.
Perhaps one can even have some understanding for the representatives of left-wing parties and women's organizations when they argue that gender equality regarding custody arrangements is not a priority as long as gender equality in other areas remains unrealized.
The fundamental need for a lived parent-child relationship is too precious to be used as a battleground for gender politics.
However, the antifeminist movement that has emerged in recent years demonstrates the extent of the suffering and how easily this complex and emotionally charged issue can be exploited with populist slogans. The fundamental need for a lived parent-child relationship is too essential and too valuable to our society to be used as a battleground for gender politics.
Rather, what is urgently needed now are legal frameworks that, at least in principle, provide the parties with the prerequisites to conclude a partnership-based, sustainable, and binding agreement tailored to their specific situation. The competent courts and authorities are also called upon to ensure that this partnership principle is upheld.
We should no longer speak of the father's maintenance obligation and the mother's custody rights, but rather of the shared responsibility for the care and maintenance of their child.
Andrea Elisabeth Knellwolf (CVP, BS) is a lawyer and heads the employee relations department at Novartis. She is a member of the board of directors of Suva and a member of the executive council of the Basel Social Conference