RIGHTS-CHILE: Time to Change Outdated Concept of Family

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Gustavo Gonzalez

SANTIAGO, May 25 1998 (IPS) - Chile not only lacks a divorce law, but continues to differentiate between children born in and out of wedlock – a situation that must be rectified, according to politicians and UN officials.

Chile is perhaps the only Latin American country where children continue to be classified as legitimate or illegitimate, says Deputy Isabel Allende of the co-governing Socialist Party, an internationally reknowned writer.

The Minister of the National Women’s Service, Josefina Bilbao, points out that of the 42 percent of children born outside of wedlock in Chile, 70 percent are acknowledged by both parents, which indicates stable partnerships unable to formalise their ties due to the current legislation.

The need for legal protection and recognition of families that differ from the traditional marriage-based model was brought up this month at the seminar “Chile: a Diverse Family”, organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Family Foundation, a government entity headed by Marta Larraechea, President Eduardo Frei’s wife.

Former Christian Democratic deputy Mariana Aylwin agrees that recognition of a diversity of family types is needed in Chile.

“Different families, infinite dreams, a single Chile” is the slogan of a campaign launched by the Family Foundation, which is seeking to raise awareness on the changes that have taken place in the classic or conventional family structure.

Carlos del Castillo, UNDP representative in Chile, pointed out that the UN slogan “the family as educator and promoter of human rights” is not only linked to this year’s 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but also highlights the key role played by the family as the basis for strengthening democracy and social justice.

“The forms in which families are structured, function and develop, as well as society’s perception of the family, vary significantly from one country to another,” said Del Castillo.

“But in any culture, the family provides the natural framework for material support, emotional solidity and formation of values, all of which are indispensable for the development of the individual,” he added.

According to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, if tolerance, respect and equity permeate family life, they become values that influence society, “and thus nations and the entire world.”

The challenges facing the traditional family institution are reflected in the latest UNDP report on human development in Chile, titled “the paradoxes of modernisation”, in which 26 families, chosen at random, were interviewed.

“The weakness of the families was made evident in their difficulties in facing – without breaking up – challenges such as women joining the workforce, the growing individualisation of preferences and communicative styles among the children, and the economic and other demands that have a particular influence on families in modern life,” said Del Castillo.

Minister Bilbao, meanwhile, stresses that modern cultural and economic phenomena, linked to poverty-related problems, are leading to increasingly diverse families, such as single-parent homes, and especially female-headed households in the lowest income sectors.

Also frequent are families in which one or both partners have separated from their first spouses. Stepchildren are common in such families.

Extended families, in which the nuclear or single-parent family is joined by other relatives, grandparents replacing parents in child-rearing, teen pregnancies and adoption are other situations giving rise to non-traditional families that are not provided for in Chilean legislation.

Nor do the current laws take into account the family as conceived by the Mapuche, Aymara, Rapanui and Kawashkar indigenous communities, which account for 10 percent of Chile’s close to 15 million inhabitants.

Domestic violence is another question that must be tackled, says Deputy Allende, because statistics indicate that 85 percent of juvenile delinquents have been victims of domestic abuse.

In Minister Bilbao’s view, “the society of the future will not be able to be rigidly or dogmatically defined.”

Former deputy Aylwin advocates a definition of “family” as a social group linked by bonds of consanguinity, affection and home alliances, rather than only the institution of marriage.