High Commissioner appears before Parliament

The High Commissioner appeared before the National Council as part of the process of considering two bills: one on reforms to civil procedure (bill number 1.028) and one on promoting and protecting women’s rights by changing and repealing obsolete and unequal provisions (bill number 1.029).

Among other things, the High Commissioner’s views were sought on the principle of mandatory assignment of an avocat-défenseur[1] for proceedings before the Court of First Instance and on the alternatives envisaged to the principle of delivering court rulings during public sittings, which must be accompanied by a strengthening of the mechanisms enabling public access to court rulings in accordance with the protection of privacy.

Regarding the second bill, which seeks to formally review the existing codes and laws through the prism of gender equality, discussions focused on the legal concept of bon père de famille (‘good family man’, analogous to the ‘reasonable man’ concept in English law), as well as certain points raised by the High Commissioner in her written opinion to the Government in December 2020 during drafting of the bill, which had not been taken into account in the final version submitted to the National Council for consideration in late February.


[1] Translator’s note: Avocat Défenseur is a senior lawyer with authority to represent the parties and to plead before any court.