Any move to boost rights of children will always be welcome. But the Law Reform Commission's proposal to give divorced couples equal rights in bringing up their children could open the Pandora's box.
The proposed amendments to the Guardianship of Minors Ordinance would give parents who now do not have custodial rights the responsibility over their children's education, discipline and welfare. The children could end up the losers.
The reform commission is ready to adopt provisions of the United Kingdom Children Act 1989 which stipulates that parents shall each have the parental responsibility for their children, regardless of their marital status.
Responsibility means all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority, which by law a parent has in relation to a child.
The spirit of the proposed changes, that children should not be the victims when a couple divorced, should be upheld. But the reality is that they would become inescapable victims. For both parents to have equal rights in a child's upbringing seems impracticable. It is hard to imagine that a child's mother would consult her estranged ex-husband over schooling and discipline.
The relationship between divorced couples is acrimonious at best. It would not surprise anyone that consultations would invariably deteriorate into bickering that decisions over a child's welfare could never be made. Until solutions to problems such as these are mapped out, the reforms should not be hastily implemented.
