A court in Namibia on Monday overturned a decision to grant citizenship to the child of a same-sex couple, the latest step in a legal battle involving children of same-sex parents.
Homosexuality is still illegal in Namibia, although the Sodomy Act of 1927 is rarely enforced today.
Yona, now four, was born to a surrogate mother in South Africa. Namibian Phillip Lühl and his Mexican partner Guillermo Delgado are listed as parents on his South African birth certificate.
Namibian authorities denied the boy citizenship and required a DNA test to prove that one of the child’s parents was Namibian. The couple refused to take the test.
In late 2021, a local court overturned the Interior Ministry’s decision to grant the boy Namibian citizenship based on his birth certificate.
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However, the government appealed the decision, arguing that the birth had not been registered with the Namibian authorities within a year, as required by law.
The Supreme Court ruled Monday in a decision obtained by AFP that the court actually made an “error” in granting citizenship to the child of a same-sex couple.
“Since the birth was not registered in accordance with the Citizenship Act, the High The court was not competent to grant relief,” the court said.” The minister was right not to grant the minor child citizenship by descent,” it concluded.
Phillip Lühl and Guillermo Delgado said in a statement that they were “disappointed” by the overturning of the decision and that the judiciary “must make decisions in the best the interest of the child”.
The decision was “unfortunate,” Mr. Luehl told AFP. You only arouse “disappointment among those who do not enjoy the full right to equality”.
South Africa is the only African country to allow same-sex marriage since 2006.
