Should children suffer when the relationship between their parents breaks down? Not according to a new pressure group, reports Reem Leila Hossam El-Shanshouri set up the Egyptian Organisation for Children of Divorced Parents last May. It now has 695 members, and is causing a stir by lobbying for greater rights of access to children on behalf of non-custodial parents and grandparents. The parents of close to seven million, or 30 per cent of Egyptian children, are divorced. The organisation is currently targeting Article 20 of Law 62/1976 which stipulates that children of divorced parents live with only one of them, generally the mother if they are under 15 years of age. Under the law non-custodial parental access, which is supervised by an appointee of the court, can be restricted to just three hours a week in a public place. "Three hours a week means six days a year. Six days over 15 years means 90 days, that is three months in 15 years. It is clearly not enough for the non-custodian parent to get close to his children and create a strong bond between them," says El-Shanshouri. The dilemma is compounded, he claims, by the fact that most of these visits occur in a hostile atmosphere, usually after an acrimonious divorce. In such an atmosphere -- children are often required to be supervised when visiting their fathers -- it is difficult for the father to communicate with his children or even to give them a hug. "These circumstances conspire to impede the non-custodian parent from exercising their natural rights as parents," complains El-Shanshouri. The organisation, which provides legal advice to divorced parents, has convened a series of workshops to lobby for amendments to the current law. It is seeking to lengthen access times, including allowing children to stay overnight with non-custodian parents, particularly during school holidays. It also conducts arbitration sessions between divorced parents in the hope of facilitating more conciliatory access agreements. "Children suffering trauma due to their parents' separation also receive counselling provided by the organisation," says El-Shanshouri. Lawyer Mahmoud Abdullah, a member of the organisation, points out that grandparents, along with the extended family of the non-custodian parent, are also deprived access except when both parents are absent from the country. "Why shouldn't such visits take place in a healthy atmosphere, full of love?" asks Abdullah. "The non-custodian parent should be able to take children home so they get to know their extended family." "An estimated 37 per cent of parents in Egypt are divorced. In Saudi Arabia the figure is 47 per cent, and in the Emirates 44 per cent. Accordingly, the organisation is seeking to establish branches in Arab countries where parents face the same problems as in Egypt," says Abdullah. Heba Hamza, a 40-year-old divorced mother, opposes the organisation's demands. Most fathers, she insists, fail to support their children financially, do not ask about them, do not call them and are not interested in visiting. They only go to court and ask for visitation rights, she claims, to spite their former wives. "I am trying to convince my ex-husband to come and visit his son," says Hamza, "but he cannot even be bothered to answer my phone calls." She believes that fathers who neglect their children should be deprived of all visiting rights. The Egyptian Organisation for Children of Divorced Parents is also demanding a change in custody orders. Currently mothers, grandmothers, paternal grandfathers, maternal aunts and paternal aunts all take precedence over fathers when it comes to awarding custody. Abdel-Moeti Bayoumi, a member of the Islamic Research Centre (IRC), opposes any change to current custody legislation, arguing that it will violate Quranic teaching. "The order by which the father gains custody is impossible to change without violating God's orders," he says. The IRC has already rejected suggestions that non-custodian parents be allowed to have children stay with them for one or two days. Such an arrangement, it says, requires the blessing of the custodian, usually the child's mother.
