Showing posts with label law. Show all posts
Showing posts with label law. Show all posts
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Morocco: New Bill Protecting Women from Abuse
Minister of Social Development Family and Solidarity Nouzha Skalli announced yesterday, during the conference on the elimination of violence against women, the presentation of the long awaited bill that criminalizes violence against women. Skalli announced that the bill would be given to the Secretary General of Government in order to launch the legislative process by end of December. A bill that criminalizes violence against women was previously introduced three years ago but was withdrawn from Parliament by Minister Skalli who considered its components insufficient to condemn or curb violence against women. Skalli worked closely with Women Rights NGOs and jurists to prepare the new bill as an amendment to the penal code.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Kuwait: 'Freedom' for Kuwait women
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=ODg1MjU0ODQ0
B Izaak, Staff Writer
KUWAIT: The Constitutional Court yesterday issued a landmark ruling by abrogating an article in the 1962 passports law that banned Kuwaiti women from obtaining their own passports without the prior approval of their husbands.
The ruling, which is final and cannot be appealed, said that the article in the law violates a number of articles in the constitution, especially articles 29, 30 and 31 which guarantee personal freedom. In the ruling, the court also stated that under the constitution, women right to travel cannot be denied by anyone including their husbands because this is one of their basic rights in the constitution.
Female MP Aseel Al-Awadhi welcomed the ruling as a victory for the constitution and democracy in Kuwait, adding that it has eliminated a long injustice against Kuwaiti women. She said that she will work to amend all laws passed by the previous National Assemblies which are in violation of the constitution.
The ruling was triggered when a Kuwaiti woman sued her husband kept her passport and those of their three children and refused to give them. The court ordered the man to give the passports. The constitutional court also said that husbands cannot prevent their wives from travelling without a court order and only when they prove that their travel undermines the interest of both parties.
In another development, the battle for bank loans relief was officially launched yesterday after a number of MPs filed a request to convene a special session to debate the issue on November 17. The request however will be discussed in the assembly's opening session of the new term on October 27 or in early November.
It was signed by MP Saadoun Hammad and nine other MPs, according to Hammad but many more MPs are likely to sign later. The request calls on the assembly's financial and economic affairs committee to study a number of draft laws on the issue and submit its report to the assembly latest by November 10.
The bills call for the government to purchase all existing personal loans on Kuwaiti citizens and then reschedule their repayment over many years after scrapping all interest. The government has so far rejected the bills saying it was ready to increase the capital of a KD500-million fund established last year to help defaulters.
Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali has said that the amount of the loans and interest is KD6 billion and any purchase or write-off will be highly expensive and harmful for national economy. Latest available official figures show that 278,000 Kuwaitis are debtors and around two percent of them are facing problems repaying. Supporters of the debt relief claim to have the support of at least 30 lawmakers, insisting that they will push through the draft law and pass in the assembly.
However MPs supporting the bills have blasted Shamali and threatened to grill him in the assembly over the issue. Islamist-tribal MP Daifallah Buramia yesterday strongly criticized the minister and threatened that he will use his "constitutional tools" against the minister if he does not change his position.
MPs have claimed that around 100,000 Kuwaiti debtors are facing legal action, including arrest, for being unable to repay, and held the finance ministry and the central bank responsible for the crisis. The issue is likely to snowball into a major flashpoint between the government and MPs during the next term unless an acceptable compromise was reached.
B Izaak, Staff Writer
KUWAIT: The Constitutional Court yesterday issued a landmark ruling by abrogating an article in the 1962 passports law that banned Kuwaiti women from obtaining their own passports without the prior approval of their husbands.
The ruling, which is final and cannot be appealed, said that the article in the law violates a number of articles in the constitution, especially articles 29, 30 and 31 which guarantee personal freedom. In the ruling, the court also stated that under the constitution, women right to travel cannot be denied by anyone including their husbands because this is one of their basic rights in the constitution.
Female MP Aseel Al-Awadhi welcomed the ruling as a victory for the constitution and democracy in Kuwait, adding that it has eliminated a long injustice against Kuwaiti women. She said that she will work to amend all laws passed by the previous National Assemblies which are in violation of the constitution.
The ruling was triggered when a Kuwaiti woman sued her husband kept her passport and those of their three children and refused to give them. The court ordered the man to give the passports. The constitutional court also said that husbands cannot prevent their wives from travelling without a court order and only when they prove that their travel undermines the interest of both parties.
In another development, the battle for bank loans relief was officially launched yesterday after a number of MPs filed a request to convene a special session to debate the issue on November 17. The request however will be discussed in the assembly's opening session of the new term on October 27 or in early November.
It was signed by MP Saadoun Hammad and nine other MPs, according to Hammad but many more MPs are likely to sign later. The request calls on the assembly's financial and economic affairs committee to study a number of draft laws on the issue and submit its report to the assembly latest by November 10.
The bills call for the government to purchase all existing personal loans on Kuwaiti citizens and then reschedule their repayment over many years after scrapping all interest. The government has so far rejected the bills saying it was ready to increase the capital of a KD500-million fund established last year to help defaulters.
Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali has said that the amount of the loans and interest is KD6 billion and any purchase or write-off will be highly expensive and harmful for national economy. Latest available official figures show that 278,000 Kuwaitis are debtors and around two percent of them are facing problems repaying. Supporters of the debt relief claim to have the support of at least 30 lawmakers, insisting that they will push through the draft law and pass in the assembly.
However MPs supporting the bills have blasted Shamali and threatened to grill him in the assembly over the issue. Islamist-tribal MP Daifallah Buramia yesterday strongly criticized the minister and threatened that he will use his "constitutional tools" against the minister if he does not change his position.
MPs have claimed that around 100,000 Kuwaiti debtors are facing legal action, including arrest, for being unable to repay, and held the finance ministry and the central bank responsible for the crisis. The issue is likely to snowball into a major flashpoint between the government and MPs during the next term unless an acceptable compromise was reached.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Bahrain: Five laws passed without changes
Gulf Daily News
MPs yesterday approved five laws passed to them by the Shura Council without discussion or amendments.
Both chambers are in dispute over several articles in the five laws but MPs decided yesterday that they could pass them without any delay because there were no major differences.
The laws will be now ratified by His Majesty King Hamad.
Among them is granting equal rights to the children of Bahraini women married to expatriates as those with Bahraini fathers.
The Shura Council decided to include a new article last month in the law.
It stipulates that children of Bahraini women have to be permanent residents in order to benefit from equal rights.
The bill allows expatriate wives the same treatment as their Bahraini counterparts in services such as government fees, education, health and an exemption from residency visa requirements.
Parliament also agreed with the Shura Council to reject an amendment among several others to the Trade Unions Law that would have allowed more than one union in the same establishment on the basis that it would create tension and division between employees.
MPs also agreed with councillors on setting up a new medical licences and services authority, after a vote to reject the Shura Council amendments was halted by parliament chairman Khalifa Al Dhahrani early this month, asking MPs to study it further.
They also approved an amended bill by the council granting GCC nationals equal rights as Bahraini businessmen when setting up businesses in Bahrain.
Parliament was also on its way to insist on its decision in regard to three other laws amended by the council but decided to postpone discussions until tomorrow's extraordinary session, which was later cancelled as MPs voted for a day off.
Parliament had earlier approved a bill to pay pensions of the deceased in the government, private and military sectors to distant relatives if they had no close family members.
However, the council rejected the bill, saying that pensions were not inheritance and could not be dealt with in the manner MPs wanted.
Services committee chairman Dr Ali Ahmed said parliament was hoping to approve all of Shura's decisions but found it difficult to approve the remaining three bills.
"I have been very lenient with councillors despite some disagreements on their approach to articles in the medical licences and services authority," he said.
"My committee liked the addition of children of Bahraini women and the ban on the formation of several unions in one establishment and according to that I recommended their approval. "But I have a huge dispute with councillors over the pension laws and parliament would have insisted on its previous decision if MPs did not decide to postpone discussing it. "Thankfully the major laws have been approved and are now in the hands of His Majesty King Hamad to ratify."
MPs yesterday approved five laws passed to them by the Shura Council without discussion or amendments.
Both chambers are in dispute over several articles in the five laws but MPs decided yesterday that they could pass them without any delay because there were no major differences.
The laws will be now ratified by His Majesty King Hamad.
Among them is granting equal rights to the children of Bahraini women married to expatriates as those with Bahraini fathers.
The Shura Council decided to include a new article last month in the law.
It stipulates that children of Bahraini women have to be permanent residents in order to benefit from equal rights.
The bill allows expatriate wives the same treatment as their Bahraini counterparts in services such as government fees, education, health and an exemption from residency visa requirements.
Parliament also agreed with the Shura Council to reject an amendment among several others to the Trade Unions Law that would have allowed more than one union in the same establishment on the basis that it would create tension and division between employees.
MPs also agreed with councillors on setting up a new medical licences and services authority, after a vote to reject the Shura Council amendments was halted by parliament chairman Khalifa Al Dhahrani early this month, asking MPs to study it further.
They also approved an amended bill by the council granting GCC nationals equal rights as Bahraini businessmen when setting up businesses in Bahrain.
Parliament was also on its way to insist on its decision in regard to three other laws amended by the council but decided to postpone discussions until tomorrow's extraordinary session, which was later cancelled as MPs voted for a day off.
Parliament had earlier approved a bill to pay pensions of the deceased in the government, private and military sectors to distant relatives if they had no close family members.
However, the council rejected the bill, saying that pensions were not inheritance and could not be dealt with in the manner MPs wanted.
Services committee chairman Dr Ali Ahmed said parliament was hoping to approve all of Shura's decisions but found it difficult to approve the remaining three bills.
"I have been very lenient with councillors despite some disagreements on their approach to articles in the medical licences and services authority," he said.
"My committee liked the addition of children of Bahraini women and the ban on the formation of several unions in one establishment and according to that I recommended their approval. "But I have a huge dispute with councillors over the pension laws and parliament would have insisted on its previous decision if MPs did not decide to postpone discussing it. "Thankfully the major laws have been approved and are now in the hands of His Majesty King Hamad to ratify."
Monday, April 20, 2009
Kuwait: Australian woman gets 2-year prison sentence for insulting Kuwaiti ruler
AP
Published: April 20, 2009, 15:39
Kuwait City: The lawyer of an Australian woman detained in Kuwait says a court has convicted her of insulting the ruler and sentenced her to two years in prison.
Attorney Falah Al Hajraf would not comment on Monday's ruling but he says he is appealing it immediately.
Nasra Alshamery was arrested in December after arriving at Kuwait International Airport with her family on vacation. The lawyer says a misunderstanding between family members and an airport official turned into a melee during which the woman was accused of screaming obscenities and insulting the ruler.
The 43-year-old woman denied the charges, and her lawyer claims witness testimony was contradictory.
Published: April 20, 2009, 15:39
Kuwait City: The lawyer of an Australian woman detained in Kuwait says a court has convicted her of insulting the ruler and sentenced her to two years in prison.
Attorney Falah Al Hajraf would not comment on Monday's ruling but he says he is appealing it immediately.
Nasra Alshamery was arrested in December after arriving at Kuwait International Airport with her family on vacation. The lawyer says a misunderstanding between family members and an airport official turned into a melee during which the woman was accused of screaming obscenities and insulting the ruler.
The 43-year-old woman denied the charges, and her lawyer claims witness testimony was contradictory.
Iran: Iran orders 'fair' US spy appeal
BBC News
Iran's judiciary chief has ordered a "quick and fair" appeal for US-Iranian reporter Roxana Saberi, jailed last week for eight years for spying.
Ayatollah Shahrudi said different aspects of the case "should be fairly, accurately and quickly considered".
His order came after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the journalist must have the legal right to defend herself.
US President Barack Obama has expressed concern at the sentencing, handed down after a one-day trial in Tehran.
Ms Saberi, 31, denies any involvement in espionage, and Mr Obama also said she was not a spy and called for her release.
The BBC's Jon Leyne, in Tehran, says it is not clear whether the ayatollah's statement means Ms Saberi will receive clemency, or that the Iranian authorities are merely stressing they are dealing fairly with her case.
Parents' visit
Ms Saberi's parents have visited their daughter in jail for the first time since the sentence was announced.
Her father, Reza Saberi - who says his daughter was tricked into making a confession - said she "seems to be OK".
"We talked about different things," he told AP news agency. "We delivered some books - that was a good news because she likes reading books.
"She said that she is with two other persons, two other ladies over there in the prison and she was looking forward for the appeal because she knew that this kind of verdict was too heavy for her."
Ms Saberi's mother, Akiko, said her daughter could not be a spy.
"No way. She cannot be a spy. Once you know her, she is the last person to do that. She would never do that to anyone."
'Respect court rulings'
Asked about Mr Obama's comments, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi told a news conference: "It is an international norm that one should respect the rulings issued by the court.
"I recommend that as long as you have not studied the contents of the case one should not just express his views... I'm sure some American officials have also studied law."
Mr Qashqavi went on to say the Iranian authorities respected the defendant's right of appeal.
In his statement, Ayatollah Shahrudi reiterated Mr Qashqavi's point, saying he "emphasised the necessity of access to fair consideration of Roxana Saberi's case, especially at the appeals stage, which is the certain right of the accused".
The journalist originally faced the less serious accusation of buying alcohol, and later of working as a reporter without a valid press card.
Then, in a period of less than two weeks, the charge of spying was introduced, and she was tried and sentenced behind closed doors by the Revolutionary Court in Tehran.
Few details of the trial or the specifics of the charges have been released.
Ms Saberi, who holds dual US and Iranian citizenship, has spent six years in Iran studying and writing a book.
She has been in jail in Tehran since January.
Iran's judiciary chief has ordered a "quick and fair" appeal for US-Iranian reporter Roxana Saberi, jailed last week for eight years for spying.
Ayatollah Shahrudi said different aspects of the case "should be fairly, accurately and quickly considered".
His order came after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the journalist must have the legal right to defend herself.
US President Barack Obama has expressed concern at the sentencing, handed down after a one-day trial in Tehran.
Ms Saberi, 31, denies any involvement in espionage, and Mr Obama also said she was not a spy and called for her release.
The BBC's Jon Leyne, in Tehran, says it is not clear whether the ayatollah's statement means Ms Saberi will receive clemency, or that the Iranian authorities are merely stressing they are dealing fairly with her case.
Parents' visit
Ms Saberi's parents have visited their daughter in jail for the first time since the sentence was announced.
Her father, Reza Saberi - who says his daughter was tricked into making a confession - said she "seems to be OK".
"We talked about different things," he told AP news agency. "We delivered some books - that was a good news because she likes reading books.
"She said that she is with two other persons, two other ladies over there in the prison and she was looking forward for the appeal because she knew that this kind of verdict was too heavy for her."
Ms Saberi's mother, Akiko, said her daughter could not be a spy.
"No way. She cannot be a spy. Once you know her, she is the last person to do that. She would never do that to anyone."
'Respect court rulings'
Asked about Mr Obama's comments, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi told a news conference: "It is an international norm that one should respect the rulings issued by the court.
"I recommend that as long as you have not studied the contents of the case one should not just express his views... I'm sure some American officials have also studied law."
Mr Qashqavi went on to say the Iranian authorities respected the defendant's right of appeal.
In his statement, Ayatollah Shahrudi reiterated Mr Qashqavi's point, saying he "emphasised the necessity of access to fair consideration of Roxana Saberi's case, especially at the appeals stage, which is the certain right of the accused".
The journalist originally faced the less serious accusation of buying alcohol, and later of working as a reporter without a valid press card.
Then, in a period of less than two weeks, the charge of spying was introduced, and she was tried and sentenced behind closed doors by the Revolutionary Court in Tehran.
Few details of the trial or the specifics of the charges have been released.
Ms Saberi, who holds dual US and Iranian citizenship, has spent six years in Iran studying and writing a book.
She has been in jail in Tehran since January.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Maghreb: Maghreb activists propose new marriage contract to protect women
Magharebia
By Jamel Arfaoui for Magharebia in Tunis – 15/04/09
In an ambitious plan to educate women in the Maghreb about married life, activists from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia drafted a new marriage contract that, if certified, will provide better protection for women's rights.
The idea was presented Saturday (April 11th) in Tunis at a meeting organised by the Global Rights Maghreb organisation and attended by human rights activists, members of women's organisations and legal experts.
"Many women in the Maghreb region usually ignore their right to incorporate certain conditions that would protect their rights when they sign the marriage contract," said Stephanie Willman Bordat, the regional director of British NGO Global Rights. Her group operates in African, American, and Asian countries to help non-governmental organisations get the necessary legal tools to address pressing human issues, including gender equality.
The draft contract is the result of a year-long study in which more than 1400 women from different backgrounds participated. More than 70 associations and 177 lawyers contributed to the study.
The findings were alarming.
"Women are suffering from complete ignorance of their rights upon signing the marriage contract," said Moroccan legal expert Saida Kouzzi.
Although the law granted women the right to add certain demands in a marriage contract, "women still consider it is inappropriate, if not disgraceful, to impose conditions on their husbands," she said.
"Cultural and social reasons still control our habits and customs. Women still believe that daring to take such a step would reduce their chances in marriage."
Moreover, the study showed that some women "looked at the marriage contract as a way to have a legal sexual relationship, or, in other words, to protect the right of their children to care and inheritance and to protect their rights upon divorce," said Tunisian Amel Ellafi, who supervised a discussion workshop for women.
The draft marriage contract includes 18 articles, including guarantees against polygamy, the wife's right to work and continue her education, guarantees against domestic violence and insurance of the freedom of movement and travel.
And, to raise women's awareness of their rights and present the new draft contract to Maghreb society, participants in the meeting launched a comprehensive educational campaign. The co-ordinated effort will help exert pressure on legislative and judicial authorities to accept the contract and enable civil society organisations and authorities to defend it.
"This initiative is aimed at making people who are about to get married shoulder the responsibility, allow them to know and preserve the rights and duties, and behave rationally and realistically to avoid the consequences of passionate love in the face of everyday life details," said Tunisian lawyer Saida Guarrach, who participated in drafting the contract.
"It will enable women to get acquainted with the existing legislation in their countries, and how to take advantage of the positive laws thereof by imposing them as conditions included in the marriage contract," added Bordat of British Global Rights.
By Jamel Arfaoui for Magharebia in Tunis – 15/04/09
In an ambitious plan to educate women in the Maghreb about married life, activists from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia drafted a new marriage contract that, if certified, will provide better protection for women's rights.
The idea was presented Saturday (April 11th) in Tunis at a meeting organised by the Global Rights Maghreb organisation and attended by human rights activists, members of women's organisations and legal experts.
"Many women in the Maghreb region usually ignore their right to incorporate certain conditions that would protect their rights when they sign the marriage contract," said Stephanie Willman Bordat, the regional director of British NGO Global Rights. Her group operates in African, American, and Asian countries to help non-governmental organisations get the necessary legal tools to address pressing human issues, including gender equality.
The draft contract is the result of a year-long study in which more than 1400 women from different backgrounds participated. More than 70 associations and 177 lawyers contributed to the study.
The findings were alarming.
"Women are suffering from complete ignorance of their rights upon signing the marriage contract," said Moroccan legal expert Saida Kouzzi.
Although the law granted women the right to add certain demands in a marriage contract, "women still consider it is inappropriate, if not disgraceful, to impose conditions on their husbands," she said.
"Cultural and social reasons still control our habits and customs. Women still believe that daring to take such a step would reduce their chances in marriage."
Moreover, the study showed that some women "looked at the marriage contract as a way to have a legal sexual relationship, or, in other words, to protect the right of their children to care and inheritance and to protect their rights upon divorce," said Tunisian Amel Ellafi, who supervised a discussion workshop for women.
The draft marriage contract includes 18 articles, including guarantees against polygamy, the wife's right to work and continue her education, guarantees against domestic violence and insurance of the freedom of movement and travel.
And, to raise women's awareness of their rights and present the new draft contract to Maghreb society, participants in the meeting launched a comprehensive educational campaign. The co-ordinated effort will help exert pressure on legislative and judicial authorities to accept the contract and enable civil society organisations and authorities to defend it.
"This initiative is aimed at making people who are about to get married shoulder the responsibility, allow them to know and preserve the rights and duties, and behave rationally and realistically to avoid the consequences of passionate love in the face of everyday life details," said Tunisian lawyer Saida Guarrach, who participated in drafting the contract.
"It will enable women to get acquainted with the existing legislation in their countries, and how to take advantage of the positive laws thereof by imposing them as conditions included in the marriage contract," added Bordat of British Global Rights.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Jordan: WARCATI seeks to educate women on their legal rights
The Jordan Times
By Rana Husseini
AMMAN - The Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) on Monday launched the third phase of a project aimed at legally empowering Jordanian women and their children.
The project, “Women and Children's Rights through Access to Information” (WARCATI), uses computer programmes and technology to educate women on their legal rights.
The software will be distributed to women and installed on computers at courthouses, including Sharia courts, JNCW Secretary General Asma Khader said at the launch yesterday.
Implemented by UNDP's Information and Communication Technology for Development in the Arab Region (ICTDAR), WARCATI is a women’s empowerment initiative that uses technology as a tool to give women greater understanding and knowledge of their rights.
It is specifically designed to benefit women in difficult circumstances, such as those in failed marriages who find themselves without any means to support themselves or their children.
The initiative uses ICT to empower women’s support mechanisms by developing relevant legal information in a digital format and disseminating it through CDs, websites, video and audio tapes, and telephone hotlines.
The content, in Arabic, includes full keyword-searchable legal text, as well as information on civil, legal and religious issues relating to family law, including child support payments, marriage, divorce, labour, adoption and custody.
"I hope that this project will ensure the rights of women in the Arab world and that no woman would fall victim to ignorance, fear or violence,” said Ziad Haddara, senior programme officer at ICTDAR. “Then we are certain that we are advancing in the human development field," he added.
The project materials developed in Jordan include CDs, booklets and a website (www.warcati.jo), which contains in-depth information on hundreds of FAQs, legal forms, requests and pleas in digital and printable format.
In addition, there will be training programmes for community workers that assist women in court to guarantee the proper use of the project materials.
Development of the computer software was the third and last phase of the project, which was developed in partnership with ICTDAR and support from the Spanish embassy and began in 2007.
By Rana Husseini
AMMAN - The Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) on Monday launched the third phase of a project aimed at legally empowering Jordanian women and their children.
The project, “Women and Children's Rights through Access to Information” (WARCATI), uses computer programmes and technology to educate women on their legal rights.
The software will be distributed to women and installed on computers at courthouses, including Sharia courts, JNCW Secretary General Asma Khader said at the launch yesterday.
Implemented by UNDP's Information and Communication Technology for Development in the Arab Region (ICTDAR), WARCATI is a women’s empowerment initiative that uses technology as a tool to give women greater understanding and knowledge of their rights.
It is specifically designed to benefit women in difficult circumstances, such as those in failed marriages who find themselves without any means to support themselves or their children.
The initiative uses ICT to empower women’s support mechanisms by developing relevant legal information in a digital format and disseminating it through CDs, websites, video and audio tapes, and telephone hotlines.
The content, in Arabic, includes full keyword-searchable legal text, as well as information on civil, legal and religious issues relating to family law, including child support payments, marriage, divorce, labour, adoption and custody.
"I hope that this project will ensure the rights of women in the Arab world and that no woman would fall victim to ignorance, fear or violence,” said Ziad Haddara, senior programme officer at ICTDAR. “Then we are certain that we are advancing in the human development field," he added.
The project materials developed in Jordan include CDs, booklets and a website (www.warcati.jo), which contains in-depth information on hundreds of FAQs, legal forms, requests and pleas in digital and printable format.
In addition, there will be training programmes for community workers that assist women in court to guarantee the proper use of the project materials.
Development of the computer software was the third and last phase of the project, which was developed in partnership with ICTDAR and support from the Spanish embassy and began in 2007.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Bahrain: New Family Law draft only partial
By MOHAMMED AL A' ALI, Posted on » Wednesday, April 08, 2009
A FAMILY Law for the Sunni community could soon be approved, with MPs yesterday passing a version of the bill to parliament's legislative and legal affairs committee for revision.
However, it will only apply to Sunnis since Shi'ite MPs opposed an earlier version following complaints from their religious leaders.
The government referred the new draft to parliament on Sunday, after withdrawing the original on January 13 following opposition from Shi'ite clergymen.
Opponents claimed only senior clerics should have the power to come up with such a law, with six senior religious leaders suggesting Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani should draft it from his home in Iraq.
Critics were backed by all 17 MPs from the Al Wefaq bloc, regarded as the Shi'ite community's voice in parliament.
The bloc had threatened to veto the original bill if not withdrawn.
Domestic disputes are resolved in Sharia courts, with separate systems for the Sunnis and Shias.
Sharia judges base verdicts on their interpretation of Islam, but a Family Law would standardise procedures.
Women's rights activists have long campaigned for the law, saying the existing system fosters discrimination against women.
A FAMILY Law for the Sunni community could soon be approved, with MPs yesterday passing a version of the bill to parliament's legislative and legal affairs committee for revision.
However, it will only apply to Sunnis since Shi'ite MPs opposed an earlier version following complaints from their religious leaders.
The government referred the new draft to parliament on Sunday, after withdrawing the original on January 13 following opposition from Shi'ite clergymen.
Opponents claimed only senior clerics should have the power to come up with such a law, with six senior religious leaders suggesting Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani should draft it from his home in Iraq.
Critics were backed by all 17 MPs from the Al Wefaq bloc, regarded as the Shi'ite community's voice in parliament.
The bloc had threatened to veto the original bill if not withdrawn.
Domestic disputes are resolved in Sharia courts, with separate systems for the Sunnis and Shias.
Sharia judges base verdicts on their interpretation of Islam, but a Family Law would standardise procedures.
Women's rights activists have long campaigned for the law, saying the existing system fosters discrimination against women.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Yemen: Sanaa’s First Woman Lawyer
28/03/2009
By Arafat Madabish
Sanaa, There have been a number of important stages in the life of Shada Nasser – the first female lawyer to work in Sanaa, and the first female lawyer to stand before the [Yemeni] courts unveiled – that have helped build her character and refine her talent, which has allowed her to become one of the most feted Yemeni lawyers on both the national and international levels. Perhaps many people recall the picture of Shada Nasser taken less than a month ago when she jointly received an international prize in New York [Woman of the Year Prize from Glamour Magazine] along with Najood Ali. Shada Nasser represented Najood Ali in court, successfully securing a marriage annulment for the girl who was only ten years old at the time. This resulted in the two receiving international fame, since this was an unprecedented event in Yemen and has encouraged other girls [in the same situation as Najood] to do the same.
Shada Nasser was born on 1 May 1964 in Aden, which at the time was a British colony. Her father, Mohamed Nasser Mohamed, was a well-known politician and diplomat who died under mysterious circumstances in an airplane accident in 1973 along with a number of other diplomats from South Yemen. Shada graduated with a Law degree from Charles University in Prague in 1989, and completed a one-year postgraduate degree from the same university. Shada worked as Director of the Drafting Committee for Legal Affairs for the University of Sanaa between 1990 and 1996, and she also founded the first female only law firm in March 1996. Shada Nasser also participated in the Yemeni parliamentary elections of April 1997, acting as Assistant Secretary-General of Technical Affairs for the Electoral Oversight Commission.
Shada Nasser was one of three female Yemeni lawyers to found the pioneering female law firm in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, where it was unprecedented for women to work in law, in comparison to the city of Aden where women work as lawyers, judges, and police officers.
Shada believes that her determination is what has allowed her to overcome these professional obstacles and barriers to become the first female lawyer in the city of Sanaa.
The first day of Shada Nasser's professional life as a lawyer was a strange and busy one. Shada told Asharq Al-Awsat, “I hailed a taxi cab and asked the driver to take me to the Bani Al-Harith Court which is located in the north of the city. The driver was very curious, and what served to increase his curiosity was that I was unveiled. This was ten years ago when I was younger and more beautiful! The driver asked me 'You must have a case in court?' I answered yes. He said 'Are you filing for divorce?' I said no, I'm a lawyer. He did not believe me and continued to believe that I was going to court to file for divorce. He continued to ask me questions and in the end he said to me 'If it won't embarrass you, tell me who your husband is, and I will hit him for you!’”
Inside court Shada Nasser found a number of tribal men and others who were waiting for their legal cases to be heard. They looked at her in shock and said ‘What is this girl doing here?’
Perhaps Shada Nasser was frightened at the prospect of standing before a traditional Yemeni judge who would not have been used to dealing with female lawyers. However she was surprised as the judge was completely calm. Of her first day in court Shada said, “In my first case, I was in front of Judge Mohamed Hamran, and to be honest he welcomed me as a member [of the court] and he encouraged me and my other colleagues, and we did not feel that he was treating us as women or girls with no experience or unable to handle our responsibilities. Some judges in Sanaa’s courts also [treated us] in the same way such as Judge Mohamed al Wadaey and Judge Mohamed al Sharfi, who encouraged the role of women.”
But judges and indeed Yemenis in general, are not all the same, and do not all encourage the role of women in the judicial system. One of these, according to Shada Nasser, was a judge who later went on to become a minister, and Shada Nasser has bad memories of him. Shada said, “He did not welcome me. Another judge would ask me to move from [sitting] in the front row to [sit] in the second row. When I asked why, he answered, ‘You are a woman, and the front row is for men only, no matter whether you are a lawyer or not.’ But my insistence in doing my job in a professional manner eventually forced him to respect me.”
Shada Nasser, who was born in Aden and studied in Eastern Europe, returned to her country at a time when North and South Yemen were being reunified, and the new capital city became the conservative Sanaa, rather than the liberal Aden. Shada Nasser, who grew up in liberal Aden, was thus free from the social customs and traditions that were and are still prevalent in Northern Yemen, including wearing the Hijab [headscarf] and the Niqab [face veil]. Speaking about this Shada remembers, “Once I was trying a case in front of a judge and suddenly my Hijab fell off my head – which I did not [ordinarily] wear in any case but had opted to cover my hair in accordance with society [in Sanaa]. The Secretariat of the Court asked me angrily ‘What is that on your head?’ meaning your Hijab has fallen off and you are standing in front of the judge with an uncovered head. Then I started to fasten a pin to my Hijab to avoid such situations [in the future].”
The daughter of a liberal politician and diplomat, it was expected that Shada Nasser would follow in the footsteps of her father, either into politics or diplomacy, or journalism. Her father was also a journalist and founded the newspaper ‘Al Tariq’ in Aden in 1966, which is now run by his son, Ayman Nasser. However Shada Nasser chose the path of law, and she confirms that she chose to enter law because her father died under mysterious circumstances which went uninvestigated, and she hoped to prosecute the persons who, in her own words, “killed my father.” This is not the only reason that Shada Nasser decided to enter law, but also because she wanted to stand up for the oppressed.
Shada Nasser is one of the few female [Yemeni] public figures not to have affiliated themselves with a political party, and she was particularly influenced by her father's political ideals. She explained this saying, “Since my childhood I lived in the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen [South Yemen] which was built almost along socialist lines. My father read widely and followed the news to the point that we had a small radio in our bathroom, and newspapers next to it, and he would listen to the news and read in the bathroom so as not to waste time. He dreamt of an equal society with regards to human rights and duties, he dreamt of helping the workers and peasants, but he was not a revolutionary!”
Despite the large number of legal cases that Shada Nasser has undertaken over the previous years, both nationally and internationally, her victory in the case of the child-marriage of Najood Ali represents a pivotal moment in her professional career, according to many observers in Yemen. Shada believes that Najood is just one example of a phenomenon that affects thousands of lives “but Najood was the only one to reach the court and say no to an early marriage, and her voice has reached the entire world.”
The environment that Shada Nasser was born into and grew up in is very different from the environment that she currently lives in, for society in general, and women in particular, had more freedom the ‘People's Democratic Republic of Yemen’ or ‘South Yemen’ but after the unification she moved to live in the new capital of Sanaa, which has been the capital of the ‘Yemen Arab Republic’ or ‘North Yemen.’ In Sanaa, she found many differences including high rates of illiteracy, and the oppression of women's rights, even though the law said that they – to some extent – are equal to men, reality showed otherwise.
The new reality faced by Shada Nasser may have caused some kind of shock in the beginning, and perhaps it can be said that she has adapted to [this new reality] today just as many of her counterparts have. Many men have also adapted to this new reality, whether they moved from Aden to Sanaa after the unification of the country, or whether they returned to Yemen after studying abroad. This is why we find many people, including Shada, who speak about the regime and the laws in the former South Yemen, and of the privileges that they experienced there that allowed Shada Nasser to study in Europe and go on to become a famed lawyer today. This is why she feels that there are “many oppressed people in our society, especially women and children; this includes a group female prisoners in the Central Prison in Sanaa who are imprisoned along with their children [after giving birth in prison].”
Even among the educated women of Yemen, Shada Nasser has been lucky to accomplish all that she has, especially in comparison to many girls who graduate from university in Yemen but are unable to enter the work force due to their husbands wishes. Shada Nasser is married to Dr. Mohamed Ali Al Saqqaf, a professor of international law and Sorbonne graduate; he is a “southerner” like her, who shares similar beliefs as her about living in a “male dominated” society, which does not occur within the tribal community alone, but can also be seen within the educated elites of Yemen.
There can be no doubt that Shada Nasser is proud of her many [legal] victories, but of course these are a drop in the ocean when looking at the reality of Yemen. What cannot be denied is that there are those [in Yemen] who see Shada Nasser merely as a woman, and there are those who completely disagree with her and the principles that she represents. However this does not preclude others from looking at Shada Nasser's experience and how this might influence the next generation of Yemenis, not only in Aden but in Sanaa also.
By Arafat Madabish
Sanaa, There have been a number of important stages in the life of Shada Nasser – the first female lawyer to work in Sanaa, and the first female lawyer to stand before the [Yemeni] courts unveiled – that have helped build her character and refine her talent, which has allowed her to become one of the most feted Yemeni lawyers on both the national and international levels. Perhaps many people recall the picture of Shada Nasser taken less than a month ago when she jointly received an international prize in New York [Woman of the Year Prize from Glamour Magazine] along with Najood Ali. Shada Nasser represented Najood Ali in court, successfully securing a marriage annulment for the girl who was only ten years old at the time. This resulted in the two receiving international fame, since this was an unprecedented event in Yemen and has encouraged other girls [in the same situation as Najood] to do the same.
Shada Nasser was born on 1 May 1964 in Aden, which at the time was a British colony. Her father, Mohamed Nasser Mohamed, was a well-known politician and diplomat who died under mysterious circumstances in an airplane accident in 1973 along with a number of other diplomats from South Yemen. Shada graduated with a Law degree from Charles University in Prague in 1989, and completed a one-year postgraduate degree from the same university. Shada worked as Director of the Drafting Committee for Legal Affairs for the University of Sanaa between 1990 and 1996, and she also founded the first female only law firm in March 1996. Shada Nasser also participated in the Yemeni parliamentary elections of April 1997, acting as Assistant Secretary-General of Technical Affairs for the Electoral Oversight Commission.
Shada Nasser was one of three female Yemeni lawyers to found the pioneering female law firm in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, where it was unprecedented for women to work in law, in comparison to the city of Aden where women work as lawyers, judges, and police officers.
Shada believes that her determination is what has allowed her to overcome these professional obstacles and barriers to become the first female lawyer in the city of Sanaa.
The first day of Shada Nasser's professional life as a lawyer was a strange and busy one. Shada told Asharq Al-Awsat, “I hailed a taxi cab and asked the driver to take me to the Bani Al-Harith Court which is located in the north of the city. The driver was very curious, and what served to increase his curiosity was that I was unveiled. This was ten years ago when I was younger and more beautiful! The driver asked me 'You must have a case in court?' I answered yes. He said 'Are you filing for divorce?' I said no, I'm a lawyer. He did not believe me and continued to believe that I was going to court to file for divorce. He continued to ask me questions and in the end he said to me 'If it won't embarrass you, tell me who your husband is, and I will hit him for you!’”
Inside court Shada Nasser found a number of tribal men and others who were waiting for their legal cases to be heard. They looked at her in shock and said ‘What is this girl doing here?’
Perhaps Shada Nasser was frightened at the prospect of standing before a traditional Yemeni judge who would not have been used to dealing with female lawyers. However she was surprised as the judge was completely calm. Of her first day in court Shada said, “In my first case, I was in front of Judge Mohamed Hamran, and to be honest he welcomed me as a member [of the court] and he encouraged me and my other colleagues, and we did not feel that he was treating us as women or girls with no experience or unable to handle our responsibilities. Some judges in Sanaa’s courts also [treated us] in the same way such as Judge Mohamed al Wadaey and Judge Mohamed al Sharfi, who encouraged the role of women.”
But judges and indeed Yemenis in general, are not all the same, and do not all encourage the role of women in the judicial system. One of these, according to Shada Nasser, was a judge who later went on to become a minister, and Shada Nasser has bad memories of him. Shada said, “He did not welcome me. Another judge would ask me to move from [sitting] in the front row to [sit] in the second row. When I asked why, he answered, ‘You are a woman, and the front row is for men only, no matter whether you are a lawyer or not.’ But my insistence in doing my job in a professional manner eventually forced him to respect me.”
Shada Nasser, who was born in Aden and studied in Eastern Europe, returned to her country at a time when North and South Yemen were being reunified, and the new capital city became the conservative Sanaa, rather than the liberal Aden. Shada Nasser, who grew up in liberal Aden, was thus free from the social customs and traditions that were and are still prevalent in Northern Yemen, including wearing the Hijab [headscarf] and the Niqab [face veil]. Speaking about this Shada remembers, “Once I was trying a case in front of a judge and suddenly my Hijab fell off my head – which I did not [ordinarily] wear in any case but had opted to cover my hair in accordance with society [in Sanaa]. The Secretariat of the Court asked me angrily ‘What is that on your head?’ meaning your Hijab has fallen off and you are standing in front of the judge with an uncovered head. Then I started to fasten a pin to my Hijab to avoid such situations [in the future].”
The daughter of a liberal politician and diplomat, it was expected that Shada Nasser would follow in the footsteps of her father, either into politics or diplomacy, or journalism. Her father was also a journalist and founded the newspaper ‘Al Tariq’ in Aden in 1966, which is now run by his son, Ayman Nasser. However Shada Nasser chose the path of law, and she confirms that she chose to enter law because her father died under mysterious circumstances which went uninvestigated, and she hoped to prosecute the persons who, in her own words, “killed my father.” This is not the only reason that Shada Nasser decided to enter law, but also because she wanted to stand up for the oppressed.
Shada Nasser is one of the few female [Yemeni] public figures not to have affiliated themselves with a political party, and she was particularly influenced by her father's political ideals. She explained this saying, “Since my childhood I lived in the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen [South Yemen] which was built almost along socialist lines. My father read widely and followed the news to the point that we had a small radio in our bathroom, and newspapers next to it, and he would listen to the news and read in the bathroom so as not to waste time. He dreamt of an equal society with regards to human rights and duties, he dreamt of helping the workers and peasants, but he was not a revolutionary!”
Despite the large number of legal cases that Shada Nasser has undertaken over the previous years, both nationally and internationally, her victory in the case of the child-marriage of Najood Ali represents a pivotal moment in her professional career, according to many observers in Yemen. Shada believes that Najood is just one example of a phenomenon that affects thousands of lives “but Najood was the only one to reach the court and say no to an early marriage, and her voice has reached the entire world.”
The environment that Shada Nasser was born into and grew up in is very different from the environment that she currently lives in, for society in general, and women in particular, had more freedom the ‘People's Democratic Republic of Yemen’ or ‘South Yemen’ but after the unification she moved to live in the new capital of Sanaa, which has been the capital of the ‘Yemen Arab Republic’ or ‘North Yemen.’ In Sanaa, she found many differences including high rates of illiteracy, and the oppression of women's rights, even though the law said that they – to some extent – are equal to men, reality showed otherwise.
The new reality faced by Shada Nasser may have caused some kind of shock in the beginning, and perhaps it can be said that she has adapted to [this new reality] today just as many of her counterparts have. Many men have also adapted to this new reality, whether they moved from Aden to Sanaa after the unification of the country, or whether they returned to Yemen after studying abroad. This is why we find many people, including Shada, who speak about the regime and the laws in the former South Yemen, and of the privileges that they experienced there that allowed Shada Nasser to study in Europe and go on to become a famed lawyer today. This is why she feels that there are “many oppressed people in our society, especially women and children; this includes a group female prisoners in the Central Prison in Sanaa who are imprisoned along with their children [after giving birth in prison].”
Even among the educated women of Yemen, Shada Nasser has been lucky to accomplish all that she has, especially in comparison to many girls who graduate from university in Yemen but are unable to enter the work force due to their husbands wishes. Shada Nasser is married to Dr. Mohamed Ali Al Saqqaf, a professor of international law and Sorbonne graduate; he is a “southerner” like her, who shares similar beliefs as her about living in a “male dominated” society, which does not occur within the tribal community alone, but can also be seen within the educated elites of Yemen.
There can be no doubt that Shada Nasser is proud of her many [legal] victories, but of course these are a drop in the ocean when looking at the reality of Yemen. What cannot be denied is that there are those [in Yemen] who see Shada Nasser merely as a woman, and there are those who completely disagree with her and the principles that she represents. However this does not preclude others from looking at Shada Nasser's experience and how this might influence the next generation of Yemenis, not only in Aden but in Sanaa also.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Algeria: Steps to Increase Elected Women Parliamentarians
ElAnnabi
The president heard yesterday the Minister of Justice to set up a commission to propose a draft organic law implementing the constitutional principles in favor of greater participation of women in elected assemblies in Algeria.
"J'instruis Minister of Justice to establish a commission like the one who worked on the amendments of the Family Code and whose mission will be to propose a draft organic law implementing the constitutional principles for greater participation of women in elected assemblies," said the President in his speech at a ceremony in honor of the Algerian woman, on the occasion of International Day of women.
The President has also decided to continue its policy to appoint women in positions that were previously dominated by men, like the positions Wali, Ambassador, university rector, president of court and member of the government. "I decided to deepen and continue the policy to appoint women in positions that were previously dominated by men, like the positions Wali, Ambassador, university rector, President of Court of Justice and member of the government, "said the head of state.
Moreover, President Bouteflika said he instructed the government to reserve a significant number of central positions of director and chairman of public women candidates who wish to access.
For President Bouteflika, the project remains "dependent" of the country's overall development because, he said, "anything that stimulates the fight against poverty, exclusion and illiteracy inevitably improves the status of women." He said in this regard, it is "difficult to advance women's access to positions parallel decisions without emphasizing that the responsibility of children and family obligations incumbent on them often, if not exclusively".
The Head of State has estimated that women are "not absent" in the political field and their presence in the political response to "a democratic necessity", since the latter, he said, make up half of the Algerian population and represent a "significant educational value." He added that the presence of women in government and Parliament would undoubtedly be strengthened, as he noted that women still occupy a place "too limited, especially for office.
The president noted, moreover, the role of women's associations, trade unions, political parties for the strengthening and modernization of political life, highlighting the role of "determinant" of the political in this sense. He believes, therefore, that it was "inconceivable and unacceptable" that the woman "is still ranked at the end of the lists", adding that "it is the will and the sincerity of political parties to encourage female candidates to positions that eligibility depends largely on the political participation of women. "
The Head of State also claims that the constitutional revision is a "great achievement" that must be "value", stressing that this achievement "requires continued work to improve the balance between man and Women ".
The Head of State emphasized that the latest legal sites available for the promotion of women's rights are "an achievement of size" it is important to emphasize. The latest legal sites, open "in order to restore the Algerians in their rights," particularly with regard to revision of the Family Code, the Nationality Code and the Constitution, are "an achievement of that size is important stressed, "said President Bouteflika.
He nevertheless stressed that the issues that affect the advancement of women are often "delicate and loaded with passion, the subject of endless controversy, preconceived ideas and prejudices unfounded." For him, the determination and courage shown by the Algerians to protect their rights "are no longer in doubt" and changing attitudes due to education and learning, "plays a decisive role in defend these rights. "
"Changing attitudes is crucial to the advancement of women and each gesture, who participates in this evolution should be welcomed, further stressed the President of the Republic, who noted that legal equality must be of effective equality "only likely to grant him an irreversible character."
The president heard yesterday the Minister of Justice to set up a commission to propose a draft organic law implementing the constitutional principles in favor of greater participation of women in elected assemblies in Algeria.
"J'instruis Minister of Justice to establish a commission like the one who worked on the amendments of the Family Code and whose mission will be to propose a draft organic law implementing the constitutional principles for greater participation of women in elected assemblies," said the President in his speech at a ceremony in honor of the Algerian woman, on the occasion of International Day of women.
The President has also decided to continue its policy to appoint women in positions that were previously dominated by men, like the positions Wali, Ambassador, university rector, president of court and member of the government. "I decided to deepen and continue the policy to appoint women in positions that were previously dominated by men, like the positions Wali, Ambassador, university rector, President of Court of Justice and member of the government, "said the head of state.
Moreover, President Bouteflika said he instructed the government to reserve a significant number of central positions of director and chairman of public women candidates who wish to access.
For President Bouteflika, the project remains "dependent" of the country's overall development because, he said, "anything that stimulates the fight against poverty, exclusion and illiteracy inevitably improves the status of women." He said in this regard, it is "difficult to advance women's access to positions parallel decisions without emphasizing that the responsibility of children and family obligations incumbent on them often, if not exclusively".
The Head of State has estimated that women are "not absent" in the political field and their presence in the political response to "a democratic necessity", since the latter, he said, make up half of the Algerian population and represent a "significant educational value." He added that the presence of women in government and Parliament would undoubtedly be strengthened, as he noted that women still occupy a place "too limited, especially for office.
The president noted, moreover, the role of women's associations, trade unions, political parties for the strengthening and modernization of political life, highlighting the role of "determinant" of the political in this sense. He believes, therefore, that it was "inconceivable and unacceptable" that the woman "is still ranked at the end of the lists", adding that "it is the will and the sincerity of political parties to encourage female candidates to positions that eligibility depends largely on the political participation of women. "
The Head of State also claims that the constitutional revision is a "great achievement" that must be "value", stressing that this achievement "requires continued work to improve the balance between man and Women ".
The Head of State emphasized that the latest legal sites available for the promotion of women's rights are "an achievement of size" it is important to emphasize. The latest legal sites, open "in order to restore the Algerians in their rights," particularly with regard to revision of the Family Code, the Nationality Code and the Constitution, are "an achievement of that size is important stressed, "said President Bouteflika.
He nevertheless stressed that the issues that affect the advancement of women are often "delicate and loaded with passion, the subject of endless controversy, preconceived ideas and prejudices unfounded." For him, the determination and courage shown by the Algerians to protect their rights "are no longer in doubt" and changing attitudes due to education and learning, "plays a decisive role in defend these rights. "
"Changing attitudes is crucial to the advancement of women and each gesture, who participates in this evolution should be welcomed, further stressed the President of the Republic, who noted that legal equality must be of effective equality "only likely to grant him an irreversible character."
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Bahrain: Law soon to outlaw violence against women
Khaleej Times
Violence against women will be considered a punishable crime under a law being drafted by a non-governmental organisation.
An announcement in this respect was made by Al Hawar ‘Dialogue’ Society as part of its celebrations of the International Women’s Day.
“The law, being drafted in association with lawmakers, recommends tough punishments for those found guilty of abusing women,” Chairman of the society, Sayed Adnan Jalal, told Khaleej Times. “We would also review international laws concerned as well as similar experiences in the neighbouring countries.”
Jalal said that many lawmakers had welcomed a plan for women’s well-being, especially steps to protect their psychological health.
“We think the law would help raise awareness about the violence against women, especially after a recent survey shows that 35 per cent of people feel that women provoke others to abuse them, while 29 per cent believe that in some cases women promote violence against them.”
Jalal said the increasing violence against women should be tackled by NGOs and other bodies concerned, especially by promoting the laws that could prevent men from causing any physical harm to women.
He stressed the need for the implementation of the family law and an amendment to the penal code to outlaw violence against females.
He attributed the increase in violence against women to the ongoing economic meltdown, saying the crisis is affecting the stability of families.
Violence against women will be considered a punishable crime under a law being drafted by a non-governmental organisation.
An announcement in this respect was made by Al Hawar ‘Dialogue’ Society as part of its celebrations of the International Women’s Day.
“The law, being drafted in association with lawmakers, recommends tough punishments for those found guilty of abusing women,” Chairman of the society, Sayed Adnan Jalal, told Khaleej Times. “We would also review international laws concerned as well as similar experiences in the neighbouring countries.”
Jalal said that many lawmakers had welcomed a plan for women’s well-being, especially steps to protect their psychological health.
“We think the law would help raise awareness about the violence against women, especially after a recent survey shows that 35 per cent of people feel that women provoke others to abuse them, while 29 per cent believe that in some cases women promote violence against them.”
Jalal said the increasing violence against women should be tackled by NGOs and other bodies concerned, especially by promoting the laws that could prevent men from causing any physical harm to women.
He stressed the need for the implementation of the family law and an amendment to the penal code to outlaw violence against females.
He attributed the increase in violence against women to the ongoing economic meltdown, saying the crisis is affecting the stability of families.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Saudi Arabia: Judicial reforms to start Jan. 1
Saudi judicial reforms will start Jan. 1 and the process to bring about structural and procedural changes will take 20 years, said Minister of Justice Sheikh Abdullah Aal Al-Shiekh. "This is only the beginning of the overhaul plan and there will be more future reform plans," he said.
A budget of nearly SR7 billion has been allocated for the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Project for Developing the Judicial System. The project entails developing new court systems, building new courts and training judges.
A new Supreme Court – to replace the existing Higher Judicial Council – will be tasked with execution of Islamic Shariah laws and monitoring compliance, and reviewing death penalties handed down by Appeals Courts.
The King will appoint the head of the Supreme Court. Judges’ salaries, appointments and other administrative matters will come under the purview of the Judicial Council. Also, there will be specialized courts for commercial, labor, and personal status cases.
-- Saudi Gazette
A budget of nearly SR7 billion has been allocated for the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Project for Developing the Judicial System. The project entails developing new court systems, building new courts and training judges.
A new Supreme Court – to replace the existing Higher Judicial Council – will be tasked with execution of Islamic Shariah laws and monitoring compliance, and reviewing death penalties handed down by Appeals Courts.
The King will appoint the head of the Supreme Court. Judges’ salaries, appointments and other administrative matters will come under the purview of the Judicial Council. Also, there will be specialized courts for commercial, labor, and personal status cases.
-- Saudi Gazette
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Algeria: Ministry of Education bans make-up in schools
The Algerian Ministry of Education devised a number of new disciplinary measures on December 13th affecting secondary schools. Memorandum 786 was sent to school principals in all 48 provinces, ordering them to ban pupils from wearing make-up and extravagant clothing on school premises.
The department of education warned that it will not tolerate any infringements of the new policy.
The memorandum is unequivocal: girls can no longer come to school wearing make-up or clothing deemed indecent. The memorandum will also oblige pupils of both sexes to wear smocks, as soon as the ministry finishes drafting the policy. Administrative staff and students are expected to comply with the policy as soon as they return from winter holidays next Saturday (January 3rd).
The decisions have sparked heated debate in Algeria between supporters and opponents.
In the wake of the controversy stirred up by the policy, Education Minister Aboubekeur Benbouzid explained that his department is merely enforcing the provisions of the law on educational guidance, and that he by no means is trying to restrict pupils' freedoms. Benbouzid also added, "In future, girls and boys will have to wear aprons of colours to be decided on by the ministry."
The president of the National Parents' Union prefers moderation. When interviewed by Magharebia, Mr. Mebarki Boualem said that "we should have moderation in all things. It's true that schools are places of education. … Of course abuses are to be condemned. Children who are well-mannered have nothing to fear. They are safe from the temptation to engage in excesses."
Saleha, a French teacher in a coeducational secondary school in Algiers, took a less relaxed view and strongly approved of the new measure. She told Magharebia, "I've been in education for over twenty years. … I must say that the current generation is very different. They behave as if they were much older. … I don't think you should come to school wearing make-up or extravagant clothes. Schools aren't catwalks. The same goes for boys. I think it was high time the ministry did something about it."
Most parents believe the memorandum is justified. Mustapha, the father of secondary school students Amel and Ramy, commented, "Girls come to school made up like adults. Others dress in very provocative ways. When I see them, I wonder whether they're coming to school to learn or for some other reason. When I heard that the ministry had decided to put an end to this situation, I welcomed the news."
Some parents, however, do not fully agree with the move. Naima, the mother of a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl, stated, "By banning make-up and what it calls extravagant clothing, the Ministry of Education is sending out a message that you should judge a book by its cover. I don't think you can judge people by what they wear. I let my daughter dress the way she wants to. She wears a little make-up. That doesn't mean she has bad habits; I keep a careful eye on her. She's an excellent pupil."
Despite the criticism, the Ministry of Education plans to fully enforce the new measures.
By Hayam El Hadi for Magharebia in Algiers
The department of education warned that it will not tolerate any infringements of the new policy.
The memorandum is unequivocal: girls can no longer come to school wearing make-up or clothing deemed indecent. The memorandum will also oblige pupils of both sexes to wear smocks, as soon as the ministry finishes drafting the policy. Administrative staff and students are expected to comply with the policy as soon as they return from winter holidays next Saturday (January 3rd).
The decisions have sparked heated debate in Algeria between supporters and opponents.
In the wake of the controversy stirred up by the policy, Education Minister Aboubekeur Benbouzid explained that his department is merely enforcing the provisions of the law on educational guidance, and that he by no means is trying to restrict pupils' freedoms. Benbouzid also added, "In future, girls and boys will have to wear aprons of colours to be decided on by the ministry."
The president of the National Parents' Union prefers moderation. When interviewed by Magharebia, Mr. Mebarki Boualem said that "we should have moderation in all things. It's true that schools are places of education. … Of course abuses are to be condemned. Children who are well-mannered have nothing to fear. They are safe from the temptation to engage in excesses."
Saleha, a French teacher in a coeducational secondary school in Algiers, took a less relaxed view and strongly approved of the new measure. She told Magharebia, "I've been in education for over twenty years. … I must say that the current generation is very different. They behave as if they were much older. … I don't think you should come to school wearing make-up or extravagant clothes. Schools aren't catwalks. The same goes for boys. I think it was high time the ministry did something about it."
Most parents believe the memorandum is justified. Mustapha, the father of secondary school students Amel and Ramy, commented, "Girls come to school made up like adults. Others dress in very provocative ways. When I see them, I wonder whether they're coming to school to learn or for some other reason. When I heard that the ministry had decided to put an end to this situation, I welcomed the news."
Some parents, however, do not fully agree with the move. Naima, the mother of a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl, stated, "By banning make-up and what it calls extravagant clothing, the Ministry of Education is sending out a message that you should judge a book by its cover. I don't think you can judge people by what they wear. I let my daughter dress the way she wants to. She wears a little make-up. That doesn't mean she has bad habits; I keep a careful eye on her. She's an excellent pupil."
Despite the criticism, the Ministry of Education plans to fully enforce the new measures.
By Hayam El Hadi for Magharebia in Algiers
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Morocco: King retracts CEDAW reservations
Morocco has retracted its reservations on the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), King Mohammed VI announced during a speech on Wednesday (December 10th), the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
"Our reservations," the monarch said, "have become obsolete due to the advanced legislation that has been adopted by our country."
The long-awaited move drew praise from civil society; the women's movement had made repeated calls for officials to take the necessary steps to apply the convention in Morocco.
Professor and researcher Malika Benradi noted that Morocco ratified the convention in 1993 with reservations, refusing to enforce any clauses opposing national or Islamic law. For example, Benradi explained that Article 9 deals with the right of a mother to transmit her citizenship to her children; a form of discrimination that Morocco abandoned in 2007.
Article 16 states that both spouses are equal at the moment of, during, and after the dissolution of a marital union. For example, under Moroccan law, there is no true equality between the spouses in terms of providing for one's household, which is solely the husband's duty. Benradi noted that "the retraction of reservations allows for progress, but it is already being debated, particularly with regards to religious issues such as inheritance."
Minister of Social Development, Family and Solidarity Nouzha Skalli expressed her satisfaction with the King's message. In her view, the move confirms Morocco's desire to be forward-looking in terms of women's rights. She added that "the withdrawal of the country’s reservations coincided with a number of other plans launched by Morocco," and "the country is well on the way to becoming an upholder of human rights."
The Moroccan Human Rights Organisation likewise welcomed the move. "Arrangements need to be put in place to enforce this international convention," said the president of the organisation, Amina Bouayache. She added that "Morocco now finds itself in a new set of circumstances. Other initiatives must also be taken, in particular reforms to the constitution and domestic law regarding civil rights and other forms of equality."
Khadija Riyadi, president of the Moroccan Human Rights Association, commented, "The Family Code needs to be amended, especially with regards to those articles that discriminate against women." She added that examples of discrimination pertain to "marriage with foreign nationals, the fact that legal guardianship is always granted to a child's father, inheritance, and polygamy."
The president of the Union for Women’s Action, Nezha Alaoui, noted that in withdrawing its reservations, Morocco "has removed all barriers to the establishment of full equality between men and women in the areas of economic, social and political law."
The president of the Democratic Women's Rights League, Fouzia Assouli, said that "the move was a minor revolution in terms of establishing the principle of equality between men and women – a principle for which the women's movement has fought for many years."
However, not everyone was pleased with the king's announcement. Mustapha Ramid, head of the Justice and Development Party's group in parliament stated that issues pertaining to Islamic law cannot be replaced. "We cannot lift all reservations to the point of achieving total equality, because this point is governed by sharia."
-- By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat
"Our reservations," the monarch said, "have become obsolete due to the advanced legislation that has been adopted by our country."
The long-awaited move drew praise from civil society; the women's movement had made repeated calls for officials to take the necessary steps to apply the convention in Morocco.
Professor and researcher Malika Benradi noted that Morocco ratified the convention in 1993 with reservations, refusing to enforce any clauses opposing national or Islamic law. For example, Benradi explained that Article 9 deals with the right of a mother to transmit her citizenship to her children; a form of discrimination that Morocco abandoned in 2007.
Article 16 states that both spouses are equal at the moment of, during, and after the dissolution of a marital union. For example, under Moroccan law, there is no true equality between the spouses in terms of providing for one's household, which is solely the husband's duty. Benradi noted that "the retraction of reservations allows for progress, but it is already being debated, particularly with regards to religious issues such as inheritance."
Minister of Social Development, Family and Solidarity Nouzha Skalli expressed her satisfaction with the King's message. In her view, the move confirms Morocco's desire to be forward-looking in terms of women's rights. She added that "the withdrawal of the country’s reservations coincided with a number of other plans launched by Morocco," and "the country is well on the way to becoming an upholder of human rights."
The Moroccan Human Rights Organisation likewise welcomed the move. "Arrangements need to be put in place to enforce this international convention," said the president of the organisation, Amina Bouayache. She added that "Morocco now finds itself in a new set of circumstances. Other initiatives must also be taken, in particular reforms to the constitution and domestic law regarding civil rights and other forms of equality."
Khadija Riyadi, president of the Moroccan Human Rights Association, commented, "The Family Code needs to be amended, especially with regards to those articles that discriminate against women." She added that examples of discrimination pertain to "marriage with foreign nationals, the fact that legal guardianship is always granted to a child's father, inheritance, and polygamy."
The president of the Union for Women’s Action, Nezha Alaoui, noted that in withdrawing its reservations, Morocco "has removed all barriers to the establishment of full equality between men and women in the areas of economic, social and political law."
The president of the Democratic Women's Rights League, Fouzia Assouli, said that "the move was a minor revolution in terms of establishing the principle of equality between men and women – a principle for which the women's movement has fought for many years."
However, not everyone was pleased with the king's announcement. Mustapha Ramid, head of the Justice and Development Party's group in parliament stated that issues pertaining to Islamic law cannot be replaced. "We cannot lift all reservations to the point of achieving total equality, because this point is governed by sharia."
-- By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat
Monday, November 24, 2008
Oman: Women Get Equal Rights to Own Land
MUSCAT - New Amendments to Oman’s Land Law give women equal rights as men to own residential plots, according to Housing Minister Shaikh Saif bin Mohammed Al Shabibi.
The changes, effected through a royal decree, reflect the importance given by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said to the role played by woman as a “partner in the development process,” he said. The amendments also specify the age for land entitlement, which has been reduced to 23 years from 24 if the individual is not married, and 21 years if married.
“As per the amendment to the Government Land Entitlement Law, priority will be given to those who have not got a government plot or who do not own land at the time of submitting the application, whether by purchase, inheritance or grants,” Shaikh Saif was quoted as saying by the Oman News Agency.
-- Khaleej Times
The changes, effected through a royal decree, reflect the importance given by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said to the role played by woman as a “partner in the development process,” he said. The amendments also specify the age for land entitlement, which has been reduced to 23 years from 24 if the individual is not married, and 21 years if married.
“As per the amendment to the Government Land Entitlement Law, priority will be given to those who have not got a government plot or who do not own land at the time of submitting the application, whether by purchase, inheritance or grants,” Shaikh Saif was quoted as saying by the Oman News Agency.
-- Khaleej Times
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
UAE: Female prosecutors in Dubai eager to embrace new challenges
Dubai: The first batch of female public prosecutors who were sworn in as trainees at the Dubai Judicial Institute (DJI) on Tuesday have shown readiness to face challenges and eagerness to investigate criminal and civil cases.
Ten females, who were among a list of 30 public prosecution trainees that will start a judicial training programme at DJI next Sunday, swore in on Tuesday before Dubai Attorney General Essam Eisa Al Humaidan.
Thuraya Al Zarouni, who worked as a lawyer for six years, said she is ready to face any challenge in her upcoming job and expressed her eagerness to investigate criminal cases.
"I acquired good experience in handling criminal cases when I practiced law... my family supports me now and I am eager to work as a public prosecutor."
She told Gulf News that she chose public prosecution because she wants to serve the country.
"Why not become the first female chief prosecutor or attorney general?" she said.
The 30 public prosecution interns represent the DJI's 10th batch and were sworn in ahead of joining Dubai's Public Prosecution Department as assistant prosecutors.
The interns, who are the largest batch so far, were short-listed from over 250 applicants from all over the UAE, following a meticulous selection process that included oral and written examinations and a personal interview.
"I am seeking to specialise in criminal or commercial cases investigations. I have chosen to become a public prosecutor because I want to serve my country and make the UAE proud of its women. My family opposed my practising law at first but then they accepted the idea and supported me," said Amna Jamal Bukattara, who has eight years of experience.
By Bassam Za'za', Senior Reporter, Gulf News
Ten females, who were among a list of 30 public prosecution trainees that will start a judicial training programme at DJI next Sunday, swore in on Tuesday before Dubai Attorney General Essam Eisa Al Humaidan.
Thuraya Al Zarouni, who worked as a lawyer for six years, said she is ready to face any challenge in her upcoming job and expressed her eagerness to investigate criminal cases.
"I acquired good experience in handling criminal cases when I practiced law... my family supports me now and I am eager to work as a public prosecutor."
She told Gulf News that she chose public prosecution because she wants to serve the country.
"Why not become the first female chief prosecutor or attorney general?" she said.
The 30 public prosecution interns represent the DJI's 10th batch and were sworn in ahead of joining Dubai's Public Prosecution Department as assistant prosecutors.
The interns, who are the largest batch so far, were short-listed from over 250 applicants from all over the UAE, following a meticulous selection process that included oral and written examinations and a personal interview.
"I am seeking to specialise in criminal or commercial cases investigations. I have chosen to become a public prosecutor because I want to serve my country and make the UAE proud of its women. My family opposed my practising law at first but then they accepted the idea and supported me," said Amna Jamal Bukattara, who has eight years of experience.
By Bassam Za'za', Senior Reporter, Gulf News
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Kuwait: Arab delegations in Kuwait discuss women as judges
KUWAIT: Arab delegations participating in a conference held here by the "Organization for Outstanding Parliamentary Performance" discussed the issue of assigning women as judges and Islamic views in this regard. Two sessions, held Sunday evening, were headed by chief of the religious committee at the Egyptian Parliament Dr Ahmad Omar Hashim and Kuwaiti politician Aisha Al-Rshaid.
Lawyer Salma Al-Ajmi said there is no legal or religious reason that bans women from becoming judges in Kuwait, while Sudanese Judge Nahid Atif Ismael pointed out that there is a religious dispute on the issue. Ismael said that there are 60 female judges in Sudan; five in the Supreme Court, 33 at the Court of Appeals, 18 at the Court of First Instance, and four at other courts.
Meanwhile, the Sudanese President's advisor Farida Ibrahim Ahmad said Sudanese women succeeded in holding high posts. Omani prosecution official Maisa Al-Ruqaishiya said Omani women contributed affectively in the field of prosecution, while Qatari prosecution official Marian Al-Jaber said that Qatari women were encouraged to work with the prosecution departments.
Despite the dispute on the issue of the post of judges, participants agreed that Islam granted women equal rights and ensured that they get inheritance, continuous financial support, dowry, housing, education, and the rights to own, buy, and sell property.
Lecturer at Al-Azhar university Dr Suad Saleh said that Islam called for equal rights for women 14 centuries ago. Societies are based on participation of both men and women in all affairs, she highlighted. Lecturer at Al-Azhar university Dr Amna Nasir stressed on the justice of Islam with both men and women, based on verses from the holy Quran and sayings of Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him.
The two-day conference, held under the patronage of First Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, was inaugurated by Ahmadi Governor Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Duaij Al-Sabah.
-- KUNA
Lawyer Salma Al-Ajmi said there is no legal or religious reason that bans women from becoming judges in Kuwait, while Sudanese Judge Nahid Atif Ismael pointed out that there is a religious dispute on the issue. Ismael said that there are 60 female judges in Sudan; five in the Supreme Court, 33 at the Court of Appeals, 18 at the Court of First Instance, and four at other courts.
Meanwhile, the Sudanese President's advisor Farida Ibrahim Ahmad said Sudanese women succeeded in holding high posts. Omani prosecution official Maisa Al-Ruqaishiya said Omani women contributed affectively in the field of prosecution, while Qatari prosecution official Marian Al-Jaber said that Qatari women were encouraged to work with the prosecution departments.
Despite the dispute on the issue of the post of judges, participants agreed that Islam granted women equal rights and ensured that they get inheritance, continuous financial support, dowry, housing, education, and the rights to own, buy, and sell property.
Lecturer at Al-Azhar university Dr Suad Saleh said that Islam called for equal rights for women 14 centuries ago. Societies are based on participation of both men and women in all affairs, she highlighted. Lecturer at Al-Azhar university Dr Amna Nasir stressed on the justice of Islam with both men and women, based on verses from the holy Quran and sayings of Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him.
The two-day conference, held under the patronage of First Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, was inaugurated by Ahmadi Governor Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Duaij Al-Sabah.
-- KUNA
Monday, June 30, 2008
Tunisia: Tunisians concerned over divorce fatwa
A religious edict issued by the Mufti of Tunisia regarding divorce has sparked a massive uproar over whether the move threatens gains made by Tunisian women over the last few decades.
The issue began when an unidentified woman solicited advice from Tunisia's Dar El Iftaa, the body of religious scholars which renders religious judgments on public and private issues and which reports directly to the Ministry of Religious Affairs. In a written message to Mufti of Tunisia Kameleddine Jait, the woman said her husband told her "you're divorced" three times.
According to the June 7th issue of the leftist Ettajdid Movement's Tarik Jadid newspaper, the Mufti answered the woman's question, "telling her that she could no longer live as wife with her husband [and] must proceed with the divorce". The article added, "The Mufti gave the woman a certificate to this effect."
The decision would have sparked little controversy in many Muslim countries, where sharia is applied in instances of marriage and divorce.
In a secular society like Tunisia, however, it is very different matter.
Since 1956, divorce – like marriage – has been governed by civil, not religious law. Under the Personal Status Code, divorce is only recognised when the two parties appear before a court of law to validate their separation and agree to the action, and only after the failure of judge-monitored reconciliation attempts between the husband and wife.
An official source in the Dar El Iftaa, who preferred to remain anonymous, said the issue had nothing to do with the laws of the country: "The woman's question was related to a religious matter, and the Mufti's answer was in line with Islamic sharia."
Some Tunisians have interpreted the Mufti's ruling as an attempt to circumvent the civil laws.
"[It is] a threat to the civil gains; something that would open the door for religious interpretations and fatwas at a time when we need to boost the process of modernisation, impose the respect of positive laws, and firmly establish the rule of law," Tarik Jadid editorialised.
"The Mufti of the Republic has no authority in the courts of law, and the Personal Status Code is the decisive factor in divorce issues," lawyer Kahna Abbas confirmed. She said she was concerned that the religious establishment could gradually turn into a source of legislation.
Khadija Cherif, President of the Tunisian Association for Democratic Women, which works to separate religion from state and achieve gender equality, also said she was astonished when she learned about the fatwa.
From his side, Khemais Khayati, a member of the Tunisian Association for the Defence of Secularism, said, "The Mufti of the Republic might have been correct if we had been a state governed by sharia and based on loyalty to faith. However, now that we are in a law-governed state, the Mufti has no right to breach the constitutional provisions that protect the citizens' right to safeguard their rights."
Khayati is worried that citizens "rush to the Mufti" instead of attempting to solve their own problems. "Who knows?" he asks. "They may work under the guidance of a religious state tomorrow."
Mohammed Ali Ennefzi, a young man in his 30s, welcomed the fatwa "because it makes our life easier and relieves us from the troubles of litigation and the problems of the Personal Status Code, which has turned men in Tunisia into slaves to their wives".
Manal El Hammi, a woman working in the pharmaceutical industry, commented sarcastically, "if all married women requested fatwas about the oaths of divorce they hear every week from their husbands, we wouldn't find any Tunisian women in their homes!"
-- Magharebia
The issue began when an unidentified woman solicited advice from Tunisia's Dar El Iftaa, the body of religious scholars which renders religious judgments on public and private issues and which reports directly to the Ministry of Religious Affairs. In a written message to Mufti of Tunisia Kameleddine Jait, the woman said her husband told her "you're divorced" three times.
According to the June 7th issue of the leftist Ettajdid Movement's Tarik Jadid newspaper, the Mufti answered the woman's question, "telling her that she could no longer live as wife with her husband [and] must proceed with the divorce". The article added, "The Mufti gave the woman a certificate to this effect."
The decision would have sparked little controversy in many Muslim countries, where sharia is applied in instances of marriage and divorce.
In a secular society like Tunisia, however, it is very different matter.
Since 1956, divorce – like marriage – has been governed by civil, not religious law. Under the Personal Status Code, divorce is only recognised when the two parties appear before a court of law to validate their separation and agree to the action, and only after the failure of judge-monitored reconciliation attempts between the husband and wife.
An official source in the Dar El Iftaa, who preferred to remain anonymous, said the issue had nothing to do with the laws of the country: "The woman's question was related to a religious matter, and the Mufti's answer was in line with Islamic sharia."
Some Tunisians have interpreted the Mufti's ruling as an attempt to circumvent the civil laws.
"[It is] a threat to the civil gains; something that would open the door for religious interpretations and fatwas at a time when we need to boost the process of modernisation, impose the respect of positive laws, and firmly establish the rule of law," Tarik Jadid editorialised.
"The Mufti of the Republic has no authority in the courts of law, and the Personal Status Code is the decisive factor in divorce issues," lawyer Kahna Abbas confirmed. She said she was concerned that the religious establishment could gradually turn into a source of legislation.
Khadija Cherif, President of the Tunisian Association for Democratic Women, which works to separate religion from state and achieve gender equality, also said she was astonished when she learned about the fatwa.
From his side, Khemais Khayati, a member of the Tunisian Association for the Defence of Secularism, said, "The Mufti of the Republic might have been correct if we had been a state governed by sharia and based on loyalty to faith. However, now that we are in a law-governed state, the Mufti has no right to breach the constitutional provisions that protect the citizens' right to safeguard their rights."
Khayati is worried that citizens "rush to the Mufti" instead of attempting to solve their own problems. "Who knows?" he asks. "They may work under the guidance of a religious state tomorrow."
Mohammed Ali Ennefzi, a young man in his 30s, welcomed the fatwa "because it makes our life easier and relieves us from the troubles of litigation and the problems of the Personal Status Code, which has turned men in Tunisia into slaves to their wives".
Manal El Hammi, a woman working in the pharmaceutical industry, commented sarcastically, "if all married women requested fatwas about the oaths of divorce they hear every week from their husbands, we wouldn't find any Tunisian women in their homes!"
-- Magharebia
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Yemen: Tiny Voices Defy Child Marriage
JIBLA, Yemen — One morning last month, Arwa Abdu Muhammad Ali walked out of her husband’s house here and ran to a local hospital, where she complained that he had been beating and sexually abusing her for eight months.
That alone would be surprising in Yemen, a deeply conservative Arab society where family disputes tend to be solved privately. What made it even more unusual was that Arwa was 9 years old.
Within days, Arwa — a tiny, delicate-featured girl — had become a celebrity in Yemen, where child marriage is common but has rarely been exposed in public. She was the second child bride to come forward in less than a month; in April, a 10-year-old named Nujood Ali had gone by herself to a courthouse to demand a divorce, generating a landmark legal case.
Nujood Ali
Together, the two girls’ stories have helped spur a movement to put an end to child marriage, which is increasingly seen as a crucial part of the cycle of poverty in Yemen and other third world countries. Pulled out of school and forced to have children before their bodies are ready, many rural Yemeni women end up illiterate and with serious health problems. Their babies are often stunted, too.
The average age of marriage in Yemen’s rural areas is 12 to 13, a recent study by Sana University researchers found. The country, at the southern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.
“This is the first shout,” said Shada Nasser, a human rights lawyer who met Nujood, the 10-year-old, after she arrived at the courthouse to demand a divorce. Ms. Nasser decided instantly to take her case. “All other early marriage cases have been dealt with by tribal sheiks, and the girl never had any choice.”
But despite a rising tide of outrage, the fight against the practice is not easy. Hard-line Islamic conservatives, whose influence has grown enormously in the past two decades, defend it, pointing to the Prophet Muhammad’s marriage to a 9-year-old. Child marriage is deeply rooted in local custom here, and even enshrined in an old tribal expression: “Give me a girl of 8, and I can give you a guarantee” for a good marriage.
“Voices are rising in society against this phenomenon and its catastrophes,” said Shawki al-Qadhi, an imam and opposition member in Parliament who has tried unsuccessfully to muster support for a legal ban on child marriage in Yemen in the past. “But despite rejections of it by many people and some religious scholars, it continues.”
The issue first arose because of Nujood, a bright-eyed girl barely four feet tall. Her ordeal began in February, when her father took her from Sana, the Yemeni capital, to his home village for the wedding. She was given almost no warning.
“I was very frightened and worried,” Nujood recalled, speaking in a soft, childlike voice as she sat cross-legged on the floor in her family’s bare three-room home in a slum not far from Sana’s airport. “I wanted to go home.”
As she told her story, Nujood gradually gained confidence, smiling shyly as if she were struggling to hold back laughter. Later, she removed her veil, revealing her shoulder-length brown hair.
The trouble started on the first night, when her 30-year-old husband, Faez Ali Thamer, took off her clothes as soon as the light was out. She ran crying from the room, but he caught her, brought her back and forced himself on her. Later, he beat her as well.
“I hated life with him,” she said, staring at the ground in front of her. The wedding came so quickly that no one bothered to tell her how women become pregnant, or what a wife’s role is, she added.
Her father, Ali Muhammad al-Ahdal, said he had agreed to the marriage because two of Nujood’s older sisters had been kidnapped and forcibly married, with one of them ending up in jail. Mr. Ahdal said he had feared the same thing would happen to Nujood, and early marriage had seemed a better alternative.
A gaunt, broken-looking man, Mr. Ahdal once worked as a street sweeper. Now he and his family beg for a living. He has 16 children by two women.
Poverty is one reason so many Yemeni families marry their children off early. Another is the fear of girls being carried off and married by force. But most important are cultural tradition and the belief that a young virginal bride can best be shaped into a dutiful wife, according to comprehensive study of early marriage published by Sana University in 2006.
Nujood complained repeatedly to her husband’s relatives and later to her own parents after the couple moved back to their house in Sana. But they said they could do nothing. To break a marriage would expose the family to shame. Finally, her uncle told her to go to court. On April 2, she said, she walked out of the house by herself and hailed a taxi.
It was the first time she had traveled anywhere alone, Nujood recalled, and she was frightened. On arriving at the courthouse, she was told the judge was busy, so she sat on a bench and waited. Suddenly he was standing over her, imposing in his dark robes. “You’re married?” he said, with shock in his voice.
Right away, he invited her to spend the night at his family’s house, she said, since court sessions were already over for the day. There, she spent hours watching television, something she had never known in her family’s slum apartment, which lacks even running water.
When Nujood’s case was called the next Sunday, the courtroom was crowded with reporters and photographers, alerted by her lawyer. Her father and husband were also there; the judge had jailed them the night before to ensure that they would appear in court. (Both were released the next day.) “Do you want a separation, or a permanent divorce?” the judge, Muhammad al-Qadhi, asked the girl, after hearing her testimony and that of her father and her husband.
“I want a permanent divorce,” she replied, without hesitation. The judge granted it.
Afterward, Ms. Nasser, the lawyer, took Nujood to a celebratory party at the offices of a local newspaper, where she was showered with dolls and other toys. Nujood lived with her uncle for a time after the ruling but then insisted on returning to her father’s house. “I have forgiven him,” she said. She swears she will never marry again, and she wants to become a human rights lawyer, like Ms. Nasser, or perhaps a journalist.
Despite the victory, Ms. Nasser and other advocates say they are worried about the lack of legal means to fight early marriage. Nujood’s case only reached the court because she took such a wildly unusual step and happened on a sympathetic judge.
“We were lucky with this judge,” Ms. Nasser said. “Another judge might not have accepted her in court, and would have asked her father or brother to come instead,” and Nujood would probably still be married today.
A 1992 Yemeni law set the minimum legal age of marriage at 15. But in 1998 Parliament revised it, allowing girls to be married earlier as long as they did not move in with their husbands until they reached sexual maturity.
That change reflected the triumph of northern Yemen’s more conservative Islamic culture over the secular and Marxist south after North and South Yemen united in 1990. In South Yemen, the government had passed a law in 1979 setting the age of marriage at 16 for women and 18 for men. An extensive public awareness campaign, including songs and television spots with titles like “The Victimized Daughter of the Tribe” and “Traditions and Rituals” helped educate people about the dangers posed by early marriage and pregnancy.
But in Yemen, as in Afghanistan — another country where child marriage is common — the fight against Communism ended with the triumph of a hard-line form of Islam. After war broke out in 1994, Ali Abdullah Saleh, then North Yemen’s leader, sent jihadists to fight South Yemen. Critics say he has become politically indebted to conservative Islamists.
After Nujood’s case became public, Ms. Nasser said she received angry letters from conservative women denouncing her for her role. But she has also begun receiving calls about girls, some younger than Nujood, trying to escape their marriages.
One of them was Arwa, who was married last year at the age of 8 here in the ancient town of Jibla, four hours south of Sana. As with Nujood’s case, Arwa’s situation aroused a legal and social outrage.
Standing outside a relative’s house here, her hands clasped in front of her, Arwa described how surprised she was when her father arranged her marriage to a 35-year-old man eight months ago. Like Nujood, she did not know the facts of life, she said. The man raped and beat her.
Finally, after months of misery, she ran to a hospital. Employees there took her to a police station, she said. A local judge, on receiving her case, briefly jailed the judge who had approved the marriage contract. Arwa is living with relatives while her case awaits a resolution. But her relatives rarely let her out of the house, fearing that her husband, who has refused the judge’s demands that he appear in court, may take her again.
Asked what made her flee her husband after so many months, Arwa gazed up, an intense, defiant expression in her eyes.
“I thought about it,” she said in a very quiet but firm voice. “I thought about it.”
-- By ROBERT F. WORTH, New York Times
That alone would be surprising in Yemen, a deeply conservative Arab society where family disputes tend to be solved privately. What made it even more unusual was that Arwa was 9 years old.
Within days, Arwa — a tiny, delicate-featured girl — had become a celebrity in Yemen, where child marriage is common but has rarely been exposed in public. She was the second child bride to come forward in less than a month; in April, a 10-year-old named Nujood Ali had gone by herself to a courthouse to demand a divorce, generating a landmark legal case.
Nujood Ali
Together, the two girls’ stories have helped spur a movement to put an end to child marriage, which is increasingly seen as a crucial part of the cycle of poverty in Yemen and other third world countries. Pulled out of school and forced to have children before their bodies are ready, many rural Yemeni women end up illiterate and with serious health problems. Their babies are often stunted, too.
The average age of marriage in Yemen’s rural areas is 12 to 13, a recent study by Sana University researchers found. The country, at the southern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.
“This is the first shout,” said Shada Nasser, a human rights lawyer who met Nujood, the 10-year-old, after she arrived at the courthouse to demand a divorce. Ms. Nasser decided instantly to take her case. “All other early marriage cases have been dealt with by tribal sheiks, and the girl never had any choice.”
But despite a rising tide of outrage, the fight against the practice is not easy. Hard-line Islamic conservatives, whose influence has grown enormously in the past two decades, defend it, pointing to the Prophet Muhammad’s marriage to a 9-year-old. Child marriage is deeply rooted in local custom here, and even enshrined in an old tribal expression: “Give me a girl of 8, and I can give you a guarantee” for a good marriage.
“Voices are rising in society against this phenomenon and its catastrophes,” said Shawki al-Qadhi, an imam and opposition member in Parliament who has tried unsuccessfully to muster support for a legal ban on child marriage in Yemen in the past. “But despite rejections of it by many people and some religious scholars, it continues.”
The issue first arose because of Nujood, a bright-eyed girl barely four feet tall. Her ordeal began in February, when her father took her from Sana, the Yemeni capital, to his home village for the wedding. She was given almost no warning.
“I was very frightened and worried,” Nujood recalled, speaking in a soft, childlike voice as she sat cross-legged on the floor in her family’s bare three-room home in a slum not far from Sana’s airport. “I wanted to go home.”
As she told her story, Nujood gradually gained confidence, smiling shyly as if she were struggling to hold back laughter. Later, she removed her veil, revealing her shoulder-length brown hair.
The trouble started on the first night, when her 30-year-old husband, Faez Ali Thamer, took off her clothes as soon as the light was out. She ran crying from the room, but he caught her, brought her back and forced himself on her. Later, he beat her as well.
“I hated life with him,” she said, staring at the ground in front of her. The wedding came so quickly that no one bothered to tell her how women become pregnant, or what a wife’s role is, she added.
Her father, Ali Muhammad al-Ahdal, said he had agreed to the marriage because two of Nujood’s older sisters had been kidnapped and forcibly married, with one of them ending up in jail. Mr. Ahdal said he had feared the same thing would happen to Nujood, and early marriage had seemed a better alternative.
A gaunt, broken-looking man, Mr. Ahdal once worked as a street sweeper. Now he and his family beg for a living. He has 16 children by two women.
Poverty is one reason so many Yemeni families marry their children off early. Another is the fear of girls being carried off and married by force. But most important are cultural tradition and the belief that a young virginal bride can best be shaped into a dutiful wife, according to comprehensive study of early marriage published by Sana University in 2006.
Nujood complained repeatedly to her husband’s relatives and later to her own parents after the couple moved back to their house in Sana. But they said they could do nothing. To break a marriage would expose the family to shame. Finally, her uncle told her to go to court. On April 2, she said, she walked out of the house by herself and hailed a taxi.
It was the first time she had traveled anywhere alone, Nujood recalled, and she was frightened. On arriving at the courthouse, she was told the judge was busy, so she sat on a bench and waited. Suddenly he was standing over her, imposing in his dark robes. “You’re married?” he said, with shock in his voice.
Right away, he invited her to spend the night at his family’s house, she said, since court sessions were already over for the day. There, she spent hours watching television, something she had never known in her family’s slum apartment, which lacks even running water.
When Nujood’s case was called the next Sunday, the courtroom was crowded with reporters and photographers, alerted by her lawyer. Her father and husband were also there; the judge had jailed them the night before to ensure that they would appear in court. (Both were released the next day.) “Do you want a separation, or a permanent divorce?” the judge, Muhammad al-Qadhi, asked the girl, after hearing her testimony and that of her father and her husband.
“I want a permanent divorce,” she replied, without hesitation. The judge granted it.
Afterward, Ms. Nasser, the lawyer, took Nujood to a celebratory party at the offices of a local newspaper, where she was showered with dolls and other toys. Nujood lived with her uncle for a time after the ruling but then insisted on returning to her father’s house. “I have forgiven him,” she said. She swears she will never marry again, and she wants to become a human rights lawyer, like Ms. Nasser, or perhaps a journalist.
Despite the victory, Ms. Nasser and other advocates say they are worried about the lack of legal means to fight early marriage. Nujood’s case only reached the court because she took such a wildly unusual step and happened on a sympathetic judge.
“We were lucky with this judge,” Ms. Nasser said. “Another judge might not have accepted her in court, and would have asked her father or brother to come instead,” and Nujood would probably still be married today.
A 1992 Yemeni law set the minimum legal age of marriage at 15. But in 1998 Parliament revised it, allowing girls to be married earlier as long as they did not move in with their husbands until they reached sexual maturity.
That change reflected the triumph of northern Yemen’s more conservative Islamic culture over the secular and Marxist south after North and South Yemen united in 1990. In South Yemen, the government had passed a law in 1979 setting the age of marriage at 16 for women and 18 for men. An extensive public awareness campaign, including songs and television spots with titles like “The Victimized Daughter of the Tribe” and “Traditions and Rituals” helped educate people about the dangers posed by early marriage and pregnancy.
But in Yemen, as in Afghanistan — another country where child marriage is common — the fight against Communism ended with the triumph of a hard-line form of Islam. After war broke out in 1994, Ali Abdullah Saleh, then North Yemen’s leader, sent jihadists to fight South Yemen. Critics say he has become politically indebted to conservative Islamists.
After Nujood’s case became public, Ms. Nasser said she received angry letters from conservative women denouncing her for her role. But she has also begun receiving calls about girls, some younger than Nujood, trying to escape their marriages.
One of them was Arwa, who was married last year at the age of 8 here in the ancient town of Jibla, four hours south of Sana. As with Nujood’s case, Arwa’s situation aroused a legal and social outrage.
Standing outside a relative’s house here, her hands clasped in front of her, Arwa described how surprised she was when her father arranged her marriage to a 35-year-old man eight months ago. Like Nujood, she did not know the facts of life, she said. The man raped and beat her.
Finally, after months of misery, she ran to a hospital. Employees there took her to a police station, she said. A local judge, on receiving her case, briefly jailed the judge who had approved the marriage contract. Arwa is living with relatives while her case awaits a resolution. But her relatives rarely let her out of the house, fearing that her husband, who has refused the judge’s demands that he appear in court, may take her again.
Asked what made her flee her husband after so many months, Arwa gazed up, an intense, defiant expression in her eyes.
“I thought about it,” she said in a very quiet but firm voice. “I thought about it.”
-- By ROBERT F. WORTH, New York Times
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Egypt: Female genital mutilation outlawed
With attention focused on political events in the Middle East – the Hamas-Israel ceasefire, post-Doha developments in Lebanon, and the Saudis deciding whether or not to increase oil output – one important piece of news got drowned out: on June 7 the Egyptian parliament outlawed female genital mutilation (FGM). The BBC didn't even mention it.
I first came across the issue of FGM over a decade ago when I lived in Cairo and heard about studies that claimed over 70% of Egyptian women were circumcised in some way or other. I remember afterwards walking along the street and counting the women I passed: cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, not, not, not, cut, cut … By now I know that these studies were incorrect and that is not true that over 70% of Egyptian women have undergone FGM. The actual number is around 90%.
Over the past decade the Egyptian authorities have tightened the restrictions on FGM, first restricting the practice to doctors and nurses (in order to curb back-alley procedures), then also forbidding health service personnel to perform any type of FGM. But those were ministry instructions, not enforceable on private citizens. And as the practice is popular, only a law with severe punishments, like the one enacted now, will do … if it is accompanied by a health education campaign.
The Grand Mufti, Egypt's highest Islamic authority had already ruled FGM illegal and the only group protesting against the ban is the Muslim Brotherhood, claiming that "nothing in Islam forbids circumcision". This might technically be true, but last time I checked Egypt's MB wasn't campaigning against the prohibition of slavery, although according to traditional Islamic law it is not only not forbidden but explicitly allowed, whereas female circumcision isn't even mentioned in the Qur'an and the one often-cited hadith (tradition of the Prophet) about it had already been deemed "spurious" by Islamic scholars hundreds of years ago.
FGM is a good example how ancient (in this case pre-Islamic) traditions are absorbed into a new religious culture. Only one of the four Sunni legal schools, the Shafi'i, holds the so-called "Sunna circumcision", whereby the tip of the clitoral hood is "trimmed", to be obligatory. (The Shia all hold that it is wrong.) Interestingly, the extent of the Shafi'i school corresponds with the prevalence of FGM: Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast, Horn of Africa, Yemen, sub-Saharan West Africa, Kurdistan, the south-west coast of India (Kerala) and Indonesia. But of course FGM is prevalent throughout the Greater Nile Valley (including Christians and animists) and among non-Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa, raising the question whether the Shafi'i school of Islamic law was adopted in part because of its stance on FGM or whether it adapted to a strong pro-FGM culture already in existence.
Kurdistan, touted as the "other" Iraq where women don't have to cover their heads and are ministers, is the only area in Iraq where FGM is common – both among Muslims and Yazidis, hinting at a pre-Islamic tradition. Sunni and Shia Arabs in Iraq might hold very traditionalist views when it comes to the role of women in society, and neither the Iran-inspired nor the Saudi/Taliban-inspired rules now gaining currency among Iraq's Arab population are anything to play down, but they don't cut their women.
In Saudi Arabia, despite its paternalism and oppression of women, FGM is alien to the interior's Wahhabi traditionalists who rule the country, yet is practised on the Red Sea coast – an area that is generally more liberal and whose inhabitants still scoff at having their lives regulated by uncouth barbarians from the interior.
Evidently, FGM is not linked to insularity or a lack of exposure to "modernity". Most likely having originated in the Nile valley and then spread to sub-Saharan Africa (and in the case of the Kurds also to some communities further the east), over time FGM was integrated into whatever new religion came along – including Islam, Christianity, and Judaism (in the case of the Ethiopian Jews).
But it remained part of local, popular culture; it did not become universal religious dogma. And to overcome it, FGM has to be treated as such. In Senegal and Ethiopia, where local women and community leaders were included in conceptualising and carrying out the programmes against it, campaigns have yielded success – quite spectacularly in some cases.
Similarly, the Egyptian parliament's decision to outlaw FGM, the practice of which now incurs a three months to two years in prison or a fine of 1,000-5,000 Egyptian pounds ($200-$1,000 – a lot of money in Egypt), needs to be accompanied by a public health campaign that takes the popular cultural attitudes seriously, that integrates community and religious leaders, and that is best organised not top-down but on the grassroots level. Criminalising the practice alone will not be enough.
But some attention and public recognition in the international media would have been nice.
-- The Guardian
I first came across the issue of FGM over a decade ago when I lived in Cairo and heard about studies that claimed over 70% of Egyptian women were circumcised in some way or other. I remember afterwards walking along the street and counting the women I passed: cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, not, not, not, cut, cut … By now I know that these studies were incorrect and that is not true that over 70% of Egyptian women have undergone FGM. The actual number is around 90%.
Over the past decade the Egyptian authorities have tightened the restrictions on FGM, first restricting the practice to doctors and nurses (in order to curb back-alley procedures), then also forbidding health service personnel to perform any type of FGM. But those were ministry instructions, not enforceable on private citizens. And as the practice is popular, only a law with severe punishments, like the one enacted now, will do … if it is accompanied by a health education campaign.
The Grand Mufti, Egypt's highest Islamic authority had already ruled FGM illegal and the only group protesting against the ban is the Muslim Brotherhood, claiming that "nothing in Islam forbids circumcision". This might technically be true, but last time I checked Egypt's MB wasn't campaigning against the prohibition of slavery, although according to traditional Islamic law it is not only not forbidden but explicitly allowed, whereas female circumcision isn't even mentioned in the Qur'an and the one often-cited hadith (tradition of the Prophet) about it had already been deemed "spurious" by Islamic scholars hundreds of years ago.
FGM is a good example how ancient (in this case pre-Islamic) traditions are absorbed into a new religious culture. Only one of the four Sunni legal schools, the Shafi'i, holds the so-called "Sunna circumcision", whereby the tip of the clitoral hood is "trimmed", to be obligatory. (The Shia all hold that it is wrong.) Interestingly, the extent of the Shafi'i school corresponds with the prevalence of FGM: Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast, Horn of Africa, Yemen, sub-Saharan West Africa, Kurdistan, the south-west coast of India (Kerala) and Indonesia. But of course FGM is prevalent throughout the Greater Nile Valley (including Christians and animists) and among non-Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa, raising the question whether the Shafi'i school of Islamic law was adopted in part because of its stance on FGM or whether it adapted to a strong pro-FGM culture already in existence.
Kurdistan, touted as the "other" Iraq where women don't have to cover their heads and are ministers, is the only area in Iraq where FGM is common – both among Muslims and Yazidis, hinting at a pre-Islamic tradition. Sunni and Shia Arabs in Iraq might hold very traditionalist views when it comes to the role of women in society, and neither the Iran-inspired nor the Saudi/Taliban-inspired rules now gaining currency among Iraq's Arab population are anything to play down, but they don't cut their women.
In Saudi Arabia, despite its paternalism and oppression of women, FGM is alien to the interior's Wahhabi traditionalists who rule the country, yet is practised on the Red Sea coast – an area that is generally more liberal and whose inhabitants still scoff at having their lives regulated by uncouth barbarians from the interior.
Evidently, FGM is not linked to insularity or a lack of exposure to "modernity". Most likely having originated in the Nile valley and then spread to sub-Saharan Africa (and in the case of the Kurds also to some communities further the east), over time FGM was integrated into whatever new religion came along – including Islam, Christianity, and Judaism (in the case of the Ethiopian Jews).
But it remained part of local, popular culture; it did not become universal religious dogma. And to overcome it, FGM has to be treated as such. In Senegal and Ethiopia, where local women and community leaders were included in conceptualising and carrying out the programmes against it, campaigns have yielded success – quite spectacularly in some cases.
Similarly, the Egyptian parliament's decision to outlaw FGM, the practice of which now incurs a three months to two years in prison or a fine of 1,000-5,000 Egyptian pounds ($200-$1,000 – a lot of money in Egypt), needs to be accompanied by a public health campaign that takes the popular cultural attitudes seriously, that integrates community and religious leaders, and that is best organised not top-down but on the grassroots level. Criminalising the practice alone will not be enough.
But some attention and public recognition in the international media would have been nice.
-- The Guardian
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