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
World Day for Safety and Health at Work
“Safety and health at work every day!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government
(NUG) of Myanmar.
Reject Military!
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Monthly Observances:
March – Women’s Role in History Month
April – Month of Planet Earth
Weekly Observances:
Last Week of March: Protection and Gender Fair Treatment of the Girl Child Week
Last Week of April – World Immunization Week
Daily Observances:
Mar 25 – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transallantic Slave Trade
Mar 27– Earth Hour
Apr 21 – Civil Service Day
Apr 22 – World Earth Day
Apr 28 – World Day for Safety and Health at Work
