WUNRN
Kuwait
- Constitutional Court Ruling - Women Can
Get Own Passports Without Approval of Husbands
Kuwait
Times - 21 October, 2009
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.
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