A Bahrain parliamentary committee yesterday rejected a proposal to amend the kingdom’s nationality law to give Bahraini women the right to to grant their nationality to their foreign husbands.
The proposal was rejected by parliament’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security Committee with a view to protect women from being exploited by people who might marry them just for the sake of Bahraini passports.
The nationality law that was ratified in the 1960s is opposed by many women activists who alleged that it was discriminatory against women. It gives the right to men to grant their nationality to their children born to foreign wives and foreign wives after five years of marriage, but deprived Bahraini women from doing so.
Many women’s societies joined a campaign calling for the amendments to the law.
“If the amendment is approved it is possible that many foreign men will marry Bahrainis and divorce them soon after getting their passport and that cannot be accepted to protect women from being victims of greedy men,” head of the panel Adel Al Muawda said.
He said the amendment could harm also the children as they would be forced to suffer the negative implications of having divorced parents.
Women Activist and Politician Dr Muneera Fakhro, however, disagreed with Al Muawda and said that if foreign wives could get Bahraini passport, then why it could not be given to foreign men.
-- Khaleej Times
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