DUBAI, United Arab Emirates—Human Rights Watch has slammed a ruling by an Emirati court which condones the beating of wives by their husbands, saying it sends out a signal that violence against women and children is acceptable.
According to press reports, the United Arab Emirates’ Federal Supreme Court in a ruling released on Sunday said that “a man has the right to discipline his wife and children provided he does not leave physical marks.”
Nadya Khalife, Middle East women’s rights researcher at HRW, said in a statement the ruling indicated acceptance of domestic violence which “should never be tolerated under any circumstances.”
“This ruling by the United Arab Emirates’ highest court is evidence that the authorities consider violence against women and children to be completely acceptable,” Khalife said in the late-Tuesday statement.
The New York-based group urged the UAE government “to repeal all discriminatory laws, including any that sanction domestic violence.”
The UAE’s ruling “violates the right of the country’s women and children to liberty, security, and equality in the family, and potentially their right to life,” the statement said.
“These provisions are blatantly demeaning to women and pose serious risks to their well-being.”
In the ruling, reported on Monday by The National newspaper, Chief Justice Falah al-Hajeri wrote: “Although the (law) permits the husband to use his right (to discipline), he has to abide by the limits of this right.”
The court also ruled that a man who “slapped and kicked his daughter and slapped his wife” violated his “right” under sharia, or Islamic law, to discipline his wife and children, as he beat his wife too severely and his daughter, aged 23, was too old for such discipline.
The UAE is less conservative than some Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia, where women cannot drive and need a male guardian’s permission to travel.
But Islamic religious law remains a part of the legal framework in the UAE, which also has secular laws. –Agence France-Presse
March –
IT’S WOMEN’S MONTH!
“Respect and support women
every day of the year/s!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the recommendations of the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry
against serious violations of protocols of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association.
Accept the National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar. Reject Military!
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Monthly Observances:
Women’s Role in History Month
Weekly Observances:
Week 1: Environmental Week;
Women’s Week
Week 3: Philippine Industry and “
Made-in-the-Philippines Products Week
Last Week: Protection and Gender-Fair Treatment
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Daily Observances:
March 8: Women’s Rights and
International Peace Day;
National Women’s Day
March 4: Employee Appreciation Day
March 15: World Consumer Rights Day
March 18: Global Recycling Day
March 21: International Day for the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination
March 23: International Day for the Right to the Truth
Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations
and for the Dignity of Victims
March 25: International Day of Remembrance of the
Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade
March 27: Earth Hour
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