Year: 2007
Type: article
Abstract: Rights ("ICESCR").14 Other conventions ratified by Swaziland, necessitating reform, are the Convention on the Rights of the Child ("CRC") 15 and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights ("African Charter").16 Swaziland also signed 17 the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 1 8 and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa ("Women's Protocol to the African Charter").' 9 Finally, the foundational human rights document-the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ("UDHR") 2 0 -although non-binding, provides important guidance.Swazi citizens are clamoring for reform of a divorce system "far behind the lifestyles of [their] people. 2 1 In Spring 2006, Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA), Women and the Law in Southern Africa-Swaziland (WLSA), and Georgetown's International Women's Human Rights Clinic undertook a joint project investigating current marriage and divorce laws in Swaziland and recommending new legislation.Supplementing research efforts, the team conducted a fact-finding investigation in March 2006 and interviewed over a hundred Swazis of various backgrounds-government officials, judges, attorneys, teachers, accountants, etc.-to gain a better understanding of the workings of the current system and what reforms would be appropriate.This resulting report and proposed statute recommend a uniform divorce law governing both civil and customary marriages, which: provides for no-fault divorce in addition to divorce on specific grounds, specifies factors for custody determinations in the child's best interests, sets out a formula for the calculation of maintenance obligations, and provides for property division recognizing the 14.
Institution: University of Miami
Language: English
Topic: Family and Matrimonial Law
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2996026075