Ascertainment of Paternity under the Ethiopian Revised Family Law: Legal and Practical Challenges from a Gender Perspective
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Date
2022-05
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Ascertainment of paternity under the family code entails various problems in the Ethiopian context. The major problem is associated with the difficulty of ascertaining paternity by all the available mechanisms. The mechanisms provided by the law to ascertain paternities are legal presumption; acknowledgement of paternity and judicial declaration. Each of these mechanisms’ present challenges to the women who are required to prove a man is the father of their child. The challenges presented by the law would be reflected in the practice of litigation process mainly in weighing of the evidence as a result it influences the process to seek medical evidence. This research aims to assess the legal and practical challenges of ascertaining paternity, under the Ethiopian context, from a legal and gender perspective. The research used the doctrinal research method as it broadens legal discourses in terms of its theoretical and conceptual framework which guided the direction of the researcher by enabling to generate evidences to answer the research problems. To this effect, the researcher employed qualitative research approach by using key informant and in-depth interviews. The research identified that the mechanism to assert paternity in the Ethiopian Revised Family Code does not allow means of ascertainment other than. specifically recognized in the law. The law as it stands now solely burdens the woman to prove the man is indeed the child’s father, and demands evidence is submitted before litigation starts. The way the law is designed puts a precondition on a woman to prove the existence of legally recognized relationship. The research further found the practical aspect of ascertaining of paternity present the major challenges such as; requiring a standard of proof higher than any other civil matters; long period of litigations before getting a final judgment; and difficult to execute the judgment. The research also assessed on top of these legally recognized method how the practice created new widely implemented ways of ascertaining paternity in the form medical proof; DNA test, which differs from what is provided in the law. The legal and the practical gaps resulted in unequal treatments between a man and a woman, a financial burden and having to carry the load of both parents in child raising on the woman alone.
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seek medical evidence, legal and gender perspective