Lawmakers are set to meet Thursday to debate the Status of Children Act, a law that would abolish the legal distinctions between children born to married parents and those whose parents are unmarried.
The law was introduced in the House of Assembly in October after a lengthy consultation process headed by the Law Reform Commission.
During a 2012 public meeting about the draft legislation, which was then still confidential, the then-chairman of the LRC explained that the law would bring the Virgin Islands into compliance with international treaties such as the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
During a 2009 town hall meeting to discuss legitimacy legislation, representatives of the BVI Bar Association said the VI was the last jurisdiction in the “developed world” to maintain a legal distinction between “legitimate and illegitimate” children.
Under the Legitimacy Act, which has been in effect here since 1929, children born to unmarried parents aren’t automatically entitled to an inheritance, unlike children born to married parents.
An amendment to the Social Security Act is also scheduled to be debated Thursday. When the bill was introduced in the HOA late last year, Health and Social Development Minister Ronnie Skelton said it would set up the administrative framework for National Health Insurance, which is to be managed under the Social Security Board.
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