http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=270075
Women betrayed by the law...or lack of it By Dana Abdulkarim, Posted on » Saturday, February 06, 2010 Mother-of-four Amal protested the lack of a family law after her husband, who stripped her of her children, also tried to strip her of her house. Suad's husband, an abusive drunk, stole away his wife's children after accusing her of being a prostitute, an allegation that was completely unfounded and wholly fictional. One would think that a country where stories like these pepper the pages of newspapers every day, Bahrain would have done something about it by now. It, in fact, has not. Despite numerous pleas for the introduction of a comprehensive Family Law, Bahrain has failed to do so, instead choosing to hide behind the immovable curtain that is religion. A Family Law covering the Sunni community was approved last year, but there is still nothing that covers the majority Shi'ite population, thus leaving the majority of women's and children's rights unprotected. Does Bahrain not realise that its membership of the Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) requires the introduction of a Family Law ? Does it not realise that only 40 per cent of its divorce cases are settled in less than a year, according to a nationwide survey conducted by the Bahrain Women's Union ? Does it choose to ignore the fact that, of the remaining numbers, 19pc of women continue to suffer abuse while waiting for their divorce cases to go through court ? While it is understandable that Bahrain's government is wary of introducing a Family Law addressing the Shi'ite majority, it does not mean that it should be allowed to sit back and do nothing about the issue. For example, Jordan and Egypt both have Sunni and Shi'ite factions and they both have Family Codes. That such laws have been implemented successfully in countries with situations similar to that of Bahrain proves that the excuse Bahrain is using no longer qualifies. Even more, the lack of a Family Law is a flagrant contradiction of the spirit of the reforms project. After all, the oppression of women does not in any way work to further democracy and freedom. Bahrain does not currently have a unified method of approaching domestic disputes. Moreover, divorce cases are also subject to judges' prejudices, personal beliefs and possibly even corruption. Tell me, Bahrain, is this fair ? What did Amal and Suad do to deserve what happened to them? Not many know - and even fewer care. Those who have campaigned against an all-embracing Family Law have included women. They should look at the plight of Amal and Suad ask themselves what they would do if it happened to them ? ¥ Dana is a senior student at Ibn Khuldoon National School. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
