The new Family Code of Cuba was unanimously approved this Friday by the Cuban deputies during the sessions of the National Assemblyas a prior step to being submitted to a referendum.
The parliamentarians supported version 25 of this legislative proposal, which, as confirmed by the head of the Ministry of JusticeOscar Silvera, went through a broad popular consultation between the months of February and April, in which 6.4 million people participated.
After this step, the rule will be submitted to a popular referendum on September 25. A week before this exercise will be done outside.
“Do you agree with the Family Code?”, will be the only question present on the ballot, according to José Luis Toledo Santander, president of the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Commission of the Island Parliament.
In the referendum, the vote will be free, equal, direct and secret, and for the Code to be finally approved, it is necessary that more than 50% of the valid votes support the norm with an affirmative answer.
“Do you agree with the Family Code?” Will be the question that the people will have to answer in the next Referendum in September.
The text will be approved if the positive answers exceed 50% of the valid votes.— Cuba Presidency ?? (@PresidenciaCuba) July 22, 2022
Among other purposes, the Code aims to regulate relationships and responsibilities within the family, and its approval would foster the equality marriageadoption by homosexual couples and surrogacy, which in the text is validated as “solidarity”, among other aspects that have been controversial.
Silvera explained that as a result of this popular consultation “47.93% of the general text and 49.15% of all its articles were modified” and if endorsed by the population, this proposal will replace the current Code, in force since 1975 .
In his speech before the Cuban parliamentarians, the minister reported that during the consultation, 336,595 interventions by voters were registered, and 434,000 proposals were collected. He also highlighted that 61.9% of citizen opinions were in favor of the law.
As for the aforementioned modifications, they did not include changes that limit people’s equal access to legal-family institutions such as marriage, de facto affective union, adoption and assisted reproduction techniques, nor those that threaten the positive notion of upbringing without violence, parental responsibility and the progressive autonomy of children and adolescents, according to an office of the Cuban News Agency (ACN).
The new Family Code is the only regulation submitted to a referendum among the 70 updated after the entry into force in 2019 of the new Constitution of the Republic of Cuba. The Government has deployed an important media campaign, which has included special programs dedicated to explaining every detail of the 471 articles of the regulation, in search of majority support for the initiative, the agency recalls EFE.
However, the project has generated controversy among those who do not accept gay marriage and adoption by same-sex couples, as is the case among some religious groups. In turn, some opponents and activists have also positioned themselves against the regulations for coming from the government, points out the Spanish media.
EFE / OnCuba
