The Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) of the Chamber approved, this Wednesday (3), by 37 votes against 28, a bill (PL) that repeals the Parental Alienation Law (Law 12,318 of 2010). As the project was processed on a final basis, it goes straight to the Senate for analysis if there is no appeal in the Chamber.
Parental alienation is considered the practice of psychological manipulation of a child by one of the parents or guardians, in order to harm the construction of a bond between that child or adolescent and the other parent.
The annulment of the law was being demanded by movements that fight for the rights of women and girls under the central argument that the legislation was being used to protect abusers and keep mothers away from their children..
“After 12 years since the sanction of this rule, it was concluded that it not only did not generate the desired effects, that is, to reduce abusive acts by parents in the separation and custody dispute process, but it has also been applied in a way that generates even more serious problems than those it intended to mitigate”, wrote the project rapporteur, federal deputy Laura Carneiro (PSD-RJ), in the opinion.
According to the rapporteur, the Parental Alienation Lawl has been used to protect child abusers who use legislation to retaliate against reports of mistreatment of children and adolescents. The deputy added that experts and specialists in combating violence against women and girls from the United Nations (UN) have been asking Brazil to repeal this law.
Carneiro also states, in his report, that the Public Ministry estimates that 70% of cases of parental alienation are from parents who have been reported by women for domestic violence or sexual abuse against them or their children..
The deputy from Rio de Janeiro cited the case of an eight-year-old boy who attempted suicide due to repeated abuse from his father. “The mother feels silenced because there is an action of parental alienation against her,” he said.
Postponed at the CCJ a few times, the debate in today’s session lasted for more than three hours due to resistance from deputies from the Liberal Party (PL) and the opposition, who claimed that the Parental Alienation Law has a role to play..
“We must reformulate this law, improve it and not repeal it by simply removing it from our legal system, placing a limbo of a law that, although it has inconsistencies, problems that must be resolved, it protects children and parents, regardless of sex, whether they are a woman, man, mother, father”, he argued.
