Manama: Bahrain’s chairwoman of the Supreme Council for Women has called for issuing the second section of the family law in order to ensure the stability of Bahraini families.
Princess Sabeeka Bint Ebrahim Al Khalifa, wife of King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa, said that the council was open to all views and ideas and that all communication means and tools were available to receive proposals and suggestions that would help reinforce the stability of families in Bahrain.
Women’s committees in all NGOs and in state establishments should avail of the opportunities and facilities to communicate their views, she said at the opening of the National Conference for Bahraini Women on Tuesday.
Bahrain has been pressing for the enactment of the personal status (family) law that would regulate the marriage relationship and all matters arising in connection to it, including engagement, dowry, custody and divorce.
The Sunni and Shiite sects that make up the overwhelming majority of Bahrainis have different interpretations of religious matters related to the family status, including marriages and divorces.
The government in early 2009 submitted a draft of a common law to the parliament, but withdrew it after Shiite leaders opposed it vehemently.
In April of that year, the government reintroduced only the Sunni section of the draft and one month later, the parliament passed it, de facto improving the legal status of women in the country.
For more than seven years, women’s rights activists and officials have been calling for enacting the law that would support Jaafari (Shiite) families, but their calls have been stiffly resisted by Jaafari religious leaders who have repeatedly refused to endorse or even discuss a draft law that governs personal status and family matters such as marriage, divorce and custody.
According to senior Shiite leaders in Bahrain, parliament is not qualified to debate or decide on family matters rooted in religious jurisprudence. Only top Shiite references, such as Iraq-based Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, can legislate on such matters and his decisions must not be altered or amended by any authority in Bahrain, they said.
