WUNRN
Bahrain:
Move to Amend Bahrain Nationality Law Rejected
23
March 2008
MANAMA
- A Bahrain parliamentary committee yesterday rejected a proposal to amend the
kingdom’s nationality law to give Bahraini women the right to to grant their
nationality to their foreign husbands.
The proposal was rejected by
parliament’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security Committee with a view
to protect women from being exploited by people who might marry them just for
the sake of Bahraini passports.
The nationality law that was ratified
in the 1960s is opposed by many women activists who alleged that it was
discriminatory against women. It gives the right to men to grant their
nationality to their children born to foreign wives, and foreign wives, after
five years of marriage, but deprived Bahraini women from doing so.
Many women’s societies joined a
campaign calling for the amendments to the law.
“If the amendment is approved it is
possible that many foreign men will marry Bahrainis and divorce them soon after
getting their passport and that cannot be accepted to protect women from being
victims of greedy men,” head of the panel Adel Al Muawda said.
He said the amendment could harm also
the children as they would be forced to suffer the negative implications of
having divorced parents.
Women
Activist and Politician Dr Muneera Fakhro, however, disagreed with Al Muawda
and said that if foreign wives could get Bahraini passport, then why it could
not be given to foreign men.
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