WUNRN
http://www.hrw.org/node/131937
Lebanon: Laws Discriminate Against
Women
Pass Optional Civil Code; Reform Religious Laws, Courts
Activists hold
placards during a protest demanding civil marriage in Lebanon, February 2013.
There is currently no Lebanese civil personal status law.
© 2013 Reuters/Jamal Saidi
Women’s Rights under Lebanese
Personal Status Laws
Direct Link to Full 125-Page 2014
Report
http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/lebanon0115_ForUpload.pdf
Not only are Lebanese citizens of
various religions treated unequally under the law, but women are treated
unfairly across the board, and their rights and security go unprotected. Passage
of an optional civil marriage code, alongside badly needed reforms to existing
personal status laws and religious courts, are long overdue. - Nadim
Houry, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director.
January 19, 2015 - (Beirut)
– Lebanon’s religion-based personal status laws
discriminate against women across the religious spectrum and don’t guarantee
their basic rights, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Lebanon
has 15 separate personal status laws for its recognized religions but no civil
code covering issues such as divorce, property rights, or care of children.
These laws are administered by autonomous religious courts with little or no
government oversight, and often issue rulings that violate women’s human
rights.
The 114-page report, “Unequal and Unprotected: Women’s Rights Under Lebanon’s
Religious Personal Status Laws,” found that, across all religions,
personal status laws erect greater barriers for women than men who wish to
terminate unhappy or abusive marriages, initiate divorce proceedings, ensure
their rights concerning their children after divorce, or secure pecuniary
rights from a former spouse. The laws also violate children’s rights, most
significantly the need to consider their best interests in all judicial
decisions concerning their welfare.
“Not only are Lebanese citizens of various religions treated unequally under
the law, but women are treated unfairly across the board, and their rights and
security go unprotected,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East and North
Africa director. “Passage of an optional civil marriage code, alongside badly
needed reforms to existing personal status laws and religious courts, are long
overdue.”
Human Rights Watch analyzed 447 recent legal judgments by religious courts
adjudicating divorce, custody, and spousal and child support, and interviewed
lawyers, judges, social workers, activists, and women who went through divorces
or custody battles in religious courts.
Lebanon’s constitution explicitly guarantees respect for the “personal status
and religious interests” of the individual, whatever their religion. This
constitutional protection has often been used as a justification to keep
personal status laws under the exclusive realm of religious authorities, block
attempts to adopt a civil code or ensure greater oversight over Lebanon’s religious
courts and laws.
The 1936 decree that established the basic personal status order and that
remains operational recognized freedom of belief, granting each person the
right to opt out of their religion’s personal status laws and marry under a
civil code. But Lebanon has yet to adopt a civil code despite numerous
campaigns since independence to do so.
The 1936 decree required each religious group to submit its personal status
code and trial procedures to the government and the parliament for review and
ratification to ensure compliance with the constitution and public order. But
while the Christian and Jewish confessions submitted their laws for review, the
Sunni confession objected to the requirement, and a later decree was issued
stating that the provisions of Decree 60LR did not apply to Muslims. In the
vast majority of cases, the Court of Cassation, the country’s highest court for
all civil cases, will not consider the substantive decisions of the personal
status courts.
“I forced myself to bear beyond what a human being can take, all the injustices
and violence,” said Mireille, a Maronite woman who endured years of physical
abuse but only sought a divorce after her children became adults because of
discriminatory custody provisions. “My daughters, who are my soul and my life,
were the main reason... I couldn’t even bear the idea of losing them.”
Human Rights Watch reviewed 243 divorce cases and found systematic
discrimination against women, including because of their disadvantaged access
to divorce or court procedures that burdened women financially and created
barriers to ending their marriage and protecting their rights.
Under Lebanon’s Shia, Sunni, and Druze laws, men can demand a divorce at any
time, unilaterally, and without cause, while a woman’s ability to access
divorce is limited, and often at great cost and after lengthy court
proceedings. In principle, these laws allow women to have an explicit clause
inserted into the marriage contract stating that husband and wife have an equal
right to unilateral divorce, but this right is rarely exercised due to social
pressure and customs. Only 3 of the 150 divorce judgments before Islamic courts
that Human Rights Watch reviewed included such clauses.
Divorce is difficult for both men and women under Christian laws, but two key
aspects of the Christian laws impact women differently and disproportionately.
Christian men can convert to Islam and remarry without divorcing – Muslim men
are legally allowed up to four wives, while a Christian woman may not enter
into a new marriage without terminating her first marriage. And although
spousal violence is grounds for desertion, short of attempted murder it is
insufficient to end a marriage quickly.
Seven of the 27 women who wanted to end their marriage that Human Rights Watch
interviewed said they did not approach religious courts for a divorce because
they could not afford the costs of court proceedings or they feared losing
primary care responsibility for their children.
Religious courts do not recognize joint custody of children, usually granting
custody to the woman until a certain age, after which the father gets custody.
But the father remains the child’s legal guardian, passed to their male
relatives in some cases if the father dies.
In reviews of 101 decisions in Christian, Islamic, and Druze courts, Human
Rights Watch found that while religious judges often applied the maternal
custody age cut-offs without examining what would be in the best interest of
the child, some judges, particularly in Christian courts and more recently
Sunni courts, were willing to consider that factor. But the religious courts
rarely looked at the father’s behavior in deciding custody issues, while
scrutinizing the woman’s conduct in ways that reflect social prejudice or stereotypes.
The result was a greater likelihood that the mother would be stripped of
custody than the father.
Of 27 women interviewed, 23 said that their principal obstacle to divorce was
their vulnerable economic position. A major contributing factor is the failure
of personal status laws to recognize a wife’s economic and non-economic
contributions to the marriage, including the value of her unpaid domestic
labor, or the concept of marital property. In addition, cultural, religious,
and traditional expectations and norms undermine a woman’s economic
independence and contribute to her financial dependence on her husband.
This system means that for example women can contribute, financially and
otherwise, to assets in their husband’s name but receive no compensation at the
time of divorce. Women also frequently gave up their financial rights to get
out of bad marriages.
Amina, who wed under Sunni personal status laws, gave up her financial rights
even though her husband had abused her, because her husband demanded it in
return for granting her a divorce. Amina said that the judge’s only involvement
was to advise her to accept the conditions.
Lebanon’s current system of personal status laws violate women’s human rights,
including to non-discrimination, equality in marriage, and at its dissolution,
physical integrity, and health. These rights are all guaranteed in several
international human rights treaties that Lebanon has ratified. Under
international law all children are entitled to have their best interests be a
primary consideration in all decisions made by official bodies concerning their
welfare.
The Lebanese parliament should adopt an optional civil code that would ensure
equal rights for all Lebanese who wish to marry under it, Human Rights Watch
said. The government should exercise oversight over religious courts and
authorities to ensure compliance with human rights obligations and bring them
in compliance with Lebanon’s international human rights obligations,
guaranteeing women and men equal rights in all personal status matters.
“Ending a marriage or determining who a child should live with after divorce
are often difficult decisions,” Houry said. “Lebanon should ensure a level
playing field between men and women.”