Personal status laws in Syria are not equal to men's
http://orientelux.com/?p=112
Syria and Personal Status Law
July 8, 2009
Last week President of the Syrian People’s Assembly Mahmoud Abrash canceled the draft legislation for a new set of laws governing Personal Status in Syria, ordering the Justice Ministry to rewrite the bill. While conservative religious leaders figured prominently in the drafting of the bill, after a copy of the proposed law began circulating in late May reformers and advocates of women’s rights vocally agitated against it.
In Syria, as in other countries, Personal Status Law governs procedures and individual rights on issues such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, and custody. The present Syrian Personal Status Law, adopted in 1953 and amended in 1975, is essentially codified Hanafi Sharia law with some qualifications for Druzes, Christians, and Jews. Unsurprisingly, it discriminates against women in a number of ways. For example, under the current law, pending a judge’s discretion, a girl as young as 13 can be married. On matters of custody, a mother has the right to custody of a girl until the age of 11 and a boy until the age of 9. However, this formal safeguard is in practice contravened by a stipulation that allows the father to assume custody regardless of age if the mother is declared unfit to raise the children. Clearly legal protection for women and children does not currently go far enough. Therefore, one would expect that a new Personal Status Law would address these problems and enjoy broad support from women’s rights organizations and reformers.
Unfortunately, the recently rejected draft proposal fell far short of improving women’s rights and even took some steps backwards. A full text of the draft in Arabic can be found here and below are a few remarks and translated excerpts.
First, the draft failed to guarantee either a woman’s right to freedom of movement, receive education, or to work, leaving each of these decisions to her male guardian. Thus, on these important issues for women, and particularly young women and divorcees, the status quo is reaffirmed.
Second, one of the most problematic issues for girls in Syria today is the issue of a girl’s consent to marriage and the minimum age. The current law certainly does not go far enough on these matters and what little protection exists is only loosely enforced
= new reply since forum marked as read