Change in law imposes huge obligation on our women especially those in rural areas – Adi Litia

SODELPA MP, Adi Litia Qionibaravi says there is no need to change the law to force hundreds of thousands of women to change their name and get a new voter card just because three people tried to register twice in 2018.

While speaking on the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill, Qionibaravi says this change in the law imposes a huge obligation on our women especially those in rural and remote communities.

She says this will also be tough for women in urban and peri-urban areas.

The Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill removes the requirement for a deed poll and requires a person who wishes to change his or her name to do so by applying to have the change of name registered. This has to be done at the Births, Deaths and Marriages Office.

The proposed amendment also reduces the age from 21 to 18 years for those that want to change their name.

It also seeks to amend the Act to permit the mother of a child born alive or stillborn in Fiji to register her child and to give her equal status as that of the father of the child. At the moment, only the father of a child may register the child at first and the mother of the child may only register her child if the father of the child is deceased, ill, absent or is unable to register the child.