WLUML has received an urgent request from the Committee of Women’s Petition (CWP), Bahrain. WLUML strongly urges you to take action in support of the group of women from Bahrain linked with the Committee of Women’s Petition and ensure their safe return to Bahrain following their campaigning visit to Europe in support of Bahrain’s proposed Family Code.

The group of 10 women have personally experienced injustices under Bahrain’s currently uncodified family laws, and hoped to raise international awareness and support for women’s struggle to gain social freedom and legal equality in Bahrain.

A draft Family Code is currently awaiting presentation before Parliament but further progress remains blocked due to pressure from politico-religious groups. It is hoped that codification and reform of the Shari’a Courts in Bahrain will emphasise the rule of law in family matters, and will also inspire similar positive developments in other Gulf region countries.

There are concerns that the 10 women may face a backlash on their return from Europe and it is vital to ensure they are able to return to the country safely and continue their campaign without interference from any authorities or political or religious groups.

They are due to arrive back in Bahrain on 5 May 2006.

It is therefore vital that you respond immediately to this urgent call for action.

In solidarity,
Women Living Under Muslim Laws

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Send urgent letters to the Bahraini authorities indicating your support for the CWP and in particular for the 10-women delegation, led by Ghada Yusuf Jamsheer, Director, Committee of Women's Petition (CWP).

At this stage, we do not recommend letters specifically urging protection of the delegation. However, it may be useful to suggest that there should be no attempt to misuse the current family cases involving the women as a means of punishing the women on the delegation.

A sample letter and addresses of officials to be contacted follow below:

Sample letter

Your Excellency/ Your Majesty/ Sir…

We are writing to express our profound support for the delegation of women from Bahrain, led by Ghada Yusuf Jamsheer, Director, Committee of Women's Petition (CWP) which recently visited London and Geneva to highlight the need for the rule of law in family matters in Bahrain.

The women of the delegation shared moving stories regarding their personal struggles to secure justice under Bahrain’s Muslim family laws as well as their determination to return to Bahrain and ensure the continuation of the campaign to codify family laws in Bahrain. We were deeply impressed by their resolve to make sure that Bahraini families are founded on mutual respect and therefore offer a more stable environment for all family members including children.

We welcome the Bahraini government’s commitment to the codification of family law and reform of Shari’a Courts in Bahrain, and hope there is no subsequent attempt by any person or authority to misuse the current family cases involving the delegation members as a means of penalising the women for their participation in this important delegation.

Yours sincerely,

Send your letters to

The Embassy of Bahrain in your country
http://www.helplinedatabase.com/embassy-database/country-in-other-countries/bahrain.html

The Royal Council
His Highness the King, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain
Fax: +973-17664587 /17661618

Cabinet
Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa
Fax: +973-17211363

Vice-President of the Supreme Council for Justice
Sheikh Khalifa Rashed Al-Khalifa
Fax: +973-17535852

Minister of Justice
Mr. Mohammed Ali Al Sitri
Fax: +973-17531284 /17531222

Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs
Sheikh Abdullah Bin Khaled Al-Khalifa
Fax: +973-17812849/17812881

Please send copies of your letters/messages to wluml@wluml.org

BACKGROUND

The Committee of Women’s Petition (CWP) is a network of Bahraini women activists campaigning for the codification of Bahrain’s family laws and the reform of Shari’a Family Courts. A delegation of 10 women visited London where they met with women’s groups and parliamentarians, and Geneva where they met UN Human Rights officials between 27 April and 5 May 2006.

They shared a ‘Plea to organizations and Establishments of Civil Societies of the World’ in which they emphasise the CWP’s mission to “defend, with all its power and patience, women and children’s rights” and oppose those who seek to prevent women and children from accessing their “Shari’a and constitutional rights.”

The Plea critcises those who “clamour for democracy in form, but not in practice, especially when that democracy serves women’s rights; those who try to stifle the parliament’s right to discuss and issue a Family Law, and to try to limit this right to those who adopt their ideology.”

Codification of a Family Law and reform of the Shari’a Courts has become necessary due to the flagrant contradictions between the spirit of the King’s reformative project and the work of the Shari’a Courts which function without a law regulating relations between husband and wife. The absence of a codified family law has allowed a situation where verdicts in different cases may contradict each other and even a verdict to contradict itself within the same case.

Opposition to presenting the draft law for discussion in parliament has come mainly from Shiite scholars who generally oppose any form of codification if the process was not led or accepted by the ‘Scholars Council’ headed by Sheikh Isa Kasem. They have requested that the draft be approved by Shiite authorities in Qom (Iran) or Najaf (Iraq), that it follows strict Shiite interpretations of Muslim laws and that the new code be immune from future amendments.

Some Sunni scholars have also opposed the draft code having different opinions regarding the mechanism for drafting a family law and the procedure for amending it in future.

While those opposing the introduction of a family code have claimed the code is the result of foreign interference in Bahrain, they do not deny the support they are receiving from abroad in order to block the new law.

The CWP “beseeches all honourable proponents of justice and equality, human rights organizations and women’s committees to stand by us, in order that we may confront this obscurity and underdevelopment, and to defend women in their demand for a Family Law in the Kingdom of Bahrain that might effectuate and gratify her humanity and womanhood.”

The CWP also presented a Complaint to the United Nations “because we believe in the role they play in spreading peace and enforcing human rights, especially the rights of the weaker sections of society – which women usually fall under.” The CWP urged implementation of the UN Human Rights Committee May 2005 recommendation that Bahrain codify and pass a Personal Law.

The CWP noted that the 1973 Bahraini Constitution Article No. 18 declares all citizens to be equal before law and equal in civil and legal rights and obligations, including being equal before the court in all its forms (such as Shari’a Courts). Article 5(E) of the Constitution also “obliges the State to reconcile the role of the woman in the family circle and her role in public life through legislation that preserves her and her children, and protects her from financial duress in the case of divorce and even during marriage.

Some of the family law problems listed by the delegation and in their documents include: