Policy Brief: Custody, gender and power – rethinking article 66 and the Algerian family law

Ikram Yassamine Mekidiche, MENA Region, Women of the South Speak Out (WOSSO) Fellow, Algeria

Algeria’s Family Code continues to reflect patriarchal structures that limit women’s rights and children’s welfare. Custody is automatically lost by mothers upon remarriage, and guardianship is exclusively vested in fathers, restricting mothers’ authority over education travel, and finances. The “best interest of the child” is narrowly defined, and institutional mechanisms, including child-sensitive judicial practices, remain weak. Constitutional guarantees of equality are undermined, reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Violence Against Women (CEDAW) persist, and cultural resistance limits the socia acceptance of reforms, leaving children’s voices largely absent in custody disputes.