SAUDI ARABIA1 OVERVIEW OF MUSLIM FAMILY LAWS & PRACTICES (Updated as at March 2018)
Description Family Law Matter Legislative Framework Case Law Policy Procedure Practice
Equality of Article 8 of the Basic Law Saudi Arabia has a A woman is placed According to the 2016 spouses in states that Saudi Arabia is general reservation under the UNDP Human marriage established on the to CEDAW as guardianship of her Development Report, foundation of justice, follows: “In case of husband upon Saudi Arabia ranked 38 Is there a consultation (shura) and contradiction signature of the on the UNDP Human Constitutional equality in compliance with between any term of marriage contract.12 Development Index and provision on Shari’ah.2 The Basic Law the Convention and 50 on the UNDP Gender equality and are does not specifically the norms of Islamic Until 2014, women Inequality Index.15 there exceptions? guarantee gender equality.3 law, the Kingdom is may only have However, according to Are there specific not under obligation access to the the 2016 World laws that recognise to observe the courts for legal Economic Forum Global marriage as a contradictory terms redress if two of her Gender Gap Report, partnership of Under the Judiciary Law of of the Convention.” male relatives Saudi Arabia ranked 141 equals i.e. are 2007, the court system is composed of First instance In addition, Saudi identify them for out of 144 on the Global family laws and/or 16 courts, followed by Courts of Arabia has specific who they are.13 In Gender Gap Index. other laws relating reservations on appeal and finally the 2014, the Supreme to marriage and Articles 9(2) and family relations Supreme Court. The First Judicial Council instance courts are 29(1) of the In September 2016, an codified or 10 issued a decision to composed of the following:4 Convention. unprecedented petition uncodified? If annul the
1 This Musawah project to map Muslim Family Laws globally was led by Zainah Anwar and coordinated by Lead Researcher Sharmila Sharma, with substantive support from Salma Waheedi and students at the International Human Rights Clinic, Harvard Law School. For this Saudi Arabia country table, we would also like to thank Vaishali Sharma and Gianna Ceophas from Harvard Law School, and Hatoon Alfassi and Mida Zantout for their inputs in its preparation. 2 Article 8 of Saudi Arabia’s Basic Law (2005), https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Saudi_Arabia_2005.pdf 3 OECD Development Centre, “Saudi Arabia”, Social Institutions and Gender Index, 2013, p. 1, http://www.genderindex.org/sites/default/files/datasheets/SA.pdf 4 Article 9 of the Law of the Judiciary (2007), http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=328937; Esther van Eijk, “Sharia and National Law in Saudi Arabia”, in Sharia Incorporated: A Comparative Overview of the Legal Systems of Twelve Muslim Countries in Past and Present, ed. Jan Michiel Otto (Leiden, The Netherlands: Leiden University Press, 2010), pp. 159-160,
codified, what are • General courts; requirement and calling for an end to the the titles of all the • Penal courts; substituted it with male guardianship In April 2017, a royal applicable laws? If • Family courts; system was presented to decree was issued the woman’s codified, do these • Commercial courts; and 14 Royal Court after gaining stating that women national ID. laws apply to all • Labour courts. thousands of signatures. citizens irrespective are not required to The reaction to the of religion? If not, obtain consent from petition from Muslim The Family courts started in do these laws apply their guardians for clerics were diverse. On independent buildings and to all Muslims or services provided to the one hand, the Grand structure in 2014.5 are there different them by government Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz agencies “unless codified laws for al-Sheikh proclaimed different sects there is a legal basis that calls to repeal the within Islam? If for this request in guardianship system are uncodified, or if accordance with the “a crime against the Saudi Arabia does not have codified laws do not provisions of Islamic religion of Islam” and codified laws relating to sufficiently address Shari’ah.” However, posed “an existential marriage and the family.6 a particular issue, the implementation threat to Saudi These areas are governed how is the issue of the decree is still society.”17 On the other, by a combination of: (i) addressed e.g. uncertain as it does a member of the Council Shari’ah principles, which in what Muslim school not state under what of Senior Scholars,
https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/ha dle/1887/21170/file221087.pdf?sequence=1; OECD Development Centre, Social Institutions and Gender Index: Saudi Arabia, 2013, p. 1, http://www.genderindex.org/sites/default/files/datasheets/SA.pdf; Saudi Women for Reform, “Saudi Arabia Shadow Report”, Submission to the CEDAW Committee for the 40th Session, 2007, p. 2, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/SAU/INT_CEDAW_NGO_SAU_40_10011_E.pdf. 10 United Nations Treaty Collection Website: https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-8&chapter=4&clang=_en 12 Human Rights Watch, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System”, 2016, p. 16, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf 13 Saudi Women for Reform, “Saudi Arabia Shadow Report”, Submission to the CEDAW Committee for the 40th Session, 2007, p. 12, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/SAU/INT_CEDAW_NGO_SAU_40_10011_E.pdf 15 UNDP, “Human Development Report 2016”, Table 5, pp. 214-217, http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/2016_human_development_report.pdf 16 World Economic Forum, “Global Gender Gap Report 2016”, Table 3, pp. 10-11, http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GGGR16/WEF_Global_Gender_Gap_Report_2016.pdf 5 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017 6 Esther van Eijk, “Sharia and National Law in Saudi Arabia”, in Sharia Incorporated: A Comparative Overview of the Legal Systems of Twelve Muslim Countries in Past and Present, ed. Jan Michiel Otto (Leiden, The Netherlands: Leiden University Press, 2010), p. 163, https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/ha dle/1887/21170/file221087.pdf?sequence=1; The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, “Personal Status Laws in the Gulf States”, 2016, http://www.agsiw.org/personal-status-laws-in-the-gulf-states-past-event/ 14 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017 17 Josie Ensor, “Saudis File First-Ever Petition to End Male Guardianship”, The Telegraph, 26 September 2016, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/26/saudis-file-first-ever-petition-to-end-male-guardianship/
of law is turn is primarily based on the circumstances a Sheikh Abdulla Al- applicable? Do rules of Hanbali woman should or Maneei, declared that these laws explicitly jurisprudence (fiqh) of the should not obtain there is no guardianship state gender- Sunni School; and (ii) judicial the consent of her over adult sane women. stereotypical roles precedence, whereby guardian for A guardian is only between husbands individual judges have services provided to required for marriage.18 and wives e.g. the significant discretionary her. Feminists are of According to information husband is the power when deciding cases the view that the 19 head of the as well as interpreting and decree codifies the on the ground: household or the applying the uncodified laws rights of Saudi • Human rights lawyers wife is the primary relating to marriage and the women to access a and feminists rely on 7 caregiver? family. job, higher Article 8 of the Basic education or medical Law to call upon the procedures and to Saudi government to Applicable CEDAW There is no equality of exit prison, among meet its obligations to ensure gender Provision spouses in marriage. Saudi others without a equality in Saudi Arabia practices a strict male guardian’s Article 16(1)(c) permission.11 Arabia. This is despite guardianship system, which, the fact that the Paras. 17-18 GR21 until April 2017, was phrase “in compliance loosened by a royal decree. with Shari’ah” has Paras. 54-55 GR29 Pending clarification on the proven to be an implementation of the royal obstacle in advocacy decree, all women must work in this regard;20 have a male guardian whose permission must be granted • When adjudicating a for anything from marriage case, a judge is to travel, renting a flat, empowered to rely on medical procedures and their personal
7 Esther van Eijk, “Sharia and National Law in Saudi Arabia”, in Sharia Incorporated: A Comparative Overview of the Legal Systems of Twelve Muslim Countries in Past and Present, ed. Jan Michiel Otto (Leiden, The Netherlands: Leiden University Press, 2010), p. 163, https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/ha dle/1887/21170/file221087.pdf?sequence=1; OECD Development Centre, Social Institutions and Gender Index: Saudi Arabia, 2013, p. 1, http://www.genderindex.org/sites/default/files/datasheets/SA.pdf 11 Faisal Al Nasser, “Cautious welcome to Saudi decree over guardian system”, Al Jazeera, 6 May 2017, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/05/saudi- decree-guardian-system-170505210416738.html; Lulwa Shalhoub, “Saudi women no longer need guardian’s consent to receive services”, Arab News, 5 May 2017, http://www.arabnews.com/node/1094681/saudi-arabia 18 Fatima Al-Dubais, “There is no guardianship over women except in marriage”, Okaz, 7 September 2016, www.goo.gl/yS2ba0 19 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017 20 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017
even exiting prison upon understanding of the serving a sentence. Under theoretically 600 the male guardianship books on Hanbali fiqh. system, initially, a woman is While they may refer under the legal guardianship to the books from the of her father. When she other schools of law, they rarely do.21 marries, her husband
becomes her new guardian. When a guardian dies or a According to reports by woman divorces, a new the US Commission on guardian is appointed. It is International Religious generally the next oldest Freedom and the media, male relative. Guardianship Saudi Arabia is due to may revert to a woman’s submit its “first personal younger brother or son if she status law in its history” does not have older male 8 to the Royal Court by the relatives. end of 2016. The personal status law is said to have been Notes: developed “following thorough studies and Shias have their own courts judicial provisions which are geographically developed by the limited to the Qatif and Ahsa Ministry of Justice with governorates. Similarly, laws the participation of relating to marriage and the committees representing family are not codified. Shia several bodies including courts apply the rules of the human rights entities Jafari jurisprudence.9 This
8 Human Rights Watch, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System”, 2016, pp. 1, 16, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf; Josie Ensor, “Saudis File First-Ever Petition to End Male Guardianship”, The Telegraph, 26 September 2016, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/26/saudis-file-first-ever-petition-to-end-male-guardianship/; Faisal Al Nasser, “Cautious welcome to Saudi decree over guardian system”, Al Jazeera, 6 May 2017, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/05/saudi-decree-guardian- system-170505210416738.html; Lulwa Shalhoub, “Saudi women no longer need guardian’s consent to receive services”, Arab News, 5 May 2017, http://www.arabnews.com/node/1094681/saudi-arabia 9 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017; USCIF, “Saudi Arabia”, Tier 1: USCIRF-Recommended Countries of Particular Concern, 2017, p. 6, http://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/SaudiArabia.2017.pdf; Global Security, “Saudi Arabia: Shias”, http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/gulf/sa- shia.htm.
table primarily discusses the and the Family Security position of personal status of Programme.”22 Based on Saudi Sunni Muslims. information on the ground, the personal status law has still not been released.23
21 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017; Esther van Eijk, “Sharia and National Law in Saudi Arabia”, in Sharia Incorporated: A Comparative Overview of the Legal Systems of Twelve Muslim Countries in Past and Present, ed. Jan Michiel Otto (Leiden, The Netherlands: Leiden University Press, 2010), pp. 161-162, https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/ha dle/1887/21170/file221087.pdf?sequence=1 22 USCIF, “Saudi Arabia”, Tier 1: USCIRF-Recommended Countries of Particular Concern, 2017, p. 6, http://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/SaudiArabia.2017.pdf; Arab News, “Work on provisions of personal status laws ‘nearly completed’”, Arab News, 28 July 2016, http://www.arabnews.com/node/960846/saudi-arabia 23 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017
Minimum and There is no minimum age for According to Saudi Arabia Those who marry According to a media equal legal age for marriage.24 media reports, in acceded to the under the age of 18 report, there were 5,622 marriage December 2008, Convention on the require the approval marriages involving child The implementing regulation a judge, Sheikh Rights of the Child in of an advisory brides under the age of Is there a minimum of the Law on Child Habib Abdallah 1996, with a general committee before a 14 in 2012.33 age of marriage? Protection states that “before al-Habib, reservation as marriage document Are there contracting a marriage, it is refused to annul follows: “The can be issued. The According to UN World exceptions to the mandatory to ensure that a marriage of an Government of committee consists of Marriage Data 2015, the minimum age (e.g. marrying a person below 18 8-year old girl Saudi Arabia enters a group of average of first marriage min. age at 18, with years of age would not result with a 47-year reservations with psychology and among Saudi Arabian exceptions to 16)? in harm to the person and old man when respect to all such health specialists females and males was Is there an absolute would achieve his best 24.9 and 28.0 in 2007, he rejected a articles as are in who conduct an 34 minimum age interest, whether a male or a petition by the conflict with the examination of each respectively. without exceptions? female.”25 girl's mother, provisions of Islamic case and interview Is there equality in whose lawyer law.”28 any girl below 18 in the minimum age of said the private and without According to information marriage? Does the marriage was the presence of the on the ground, the minimum age of arranged by her parents.31 procedure of marriage match the In 2009, the Grand father to settle a Mufti Sheikh Abdul interviewing a girl below age of majority? Is debt with "a 18 before a marriage there a minimum Aziz al-Sheikh close friend." declared that girls as It is possible to seek document can be issued age verification The judge is not commonly process before the young as 10 were the assistance of the required the 29 National Human followed since it is only marriage is marriageable. 35 girl's husband to Rights Society advisory in nature. concluded? sign a pledge (NHRS) to intervene that he would In 2013, the Ministry in a child marriage. In not have sex of Justice proposed 2009, the NHRS Applicable CEDAW with her until intervened to stop the that the minimum Provision she reaches marriage of an 11- 26 age of marriage be puberty. The 16. However, the year-old girl and a girl was
24 Saudi Arabia State party report, U.N. Doc. CRC/C/SAU/3-4 (2015), para. 72, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRC/Pages/CRCIndex.aspx#sthash.cDNPOz37.dpuf
26 CNN, “Top Saudi Cleric: OK for Young Girls to Wed”, CNN, 17 January 2009, http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/17/saudi.child.marriage/ 28 United Nations Treaty Collection Website: https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4&lang=en#EndDec 29 CNN, “Top Saudi Cleric: OK for Young Girls to Wed”, CNN, 17 January 2009, http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/17/saudi.child.marriage/
Article 16(2) eventually proposal faced 40-year-old man, who allowed to strong resistance by had six children from Paras. 36-39 GR21 divorce her the Grand Mufti.30 his first marriage. The husband case was brought to through an out- the attention of the of-court NHRS by the girl’s settlement.27 teenage brothers as both the parents had agreed to the child marriage despite the experiences of the girl’s elder sister who was in a child marriage and who was divorced by 20.32
Women’s consent Regardless of their age, both In April 2005, the It is incumbent upon According to academic to marriage prospective brides and Grand Mufti Sheikh the groom and the research, reports by civil
31 Saudi Arabia State party report, U.N. Doc. CRC/C/SAU/3-4 (2015), para. 72, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRC/Pages/CRCIndex.aspx#sthash.cDNPOz37.dpuf 33 Staff Report, “More than 5,000 Child Brides in Saudi Arabia”, Gulf News, 8 November 2012, http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/more-than-5-000- child-brides-in-saudi-arabia-1.1101605 34 United Nations Population Division, “World Marriage Data 2015”, https://esa.un.org/ffps/Index.html#/maritalStatusData 35 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017 27 AP, “Saudi girl, 8, divorces 50-year old husband”, NBC News, http://www.nbcnews.com/id/30501798/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/t/saudi-girl-divorces-- year-old-husband/#.WFaQXfl97IU. 30 Tara Abhasakun, “Exposing UNICEF’s dirty laundry: Why the UN won’t punish Saudi Arabia for its child marriage problem”, Borderless, 23 October 2016, http://www.borderlessnewsonline.com/exposing-unicefs-dirty-laundry-why-the-un-wont-punish-saudi-arabia-for-its-child-marriage-problem/ 32 Abdul Rahman Shaheen, “Human rights body intervenes to stop child marriage in Saudi Arabia”, Gulf News, 8 July 2009, http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/human-rights-body-intervenes-to-stop-child-marriage-in-saudi-arabia-1.500470
grooms must consent to the Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh official officiating the society report and the marriage.36 issued a statement marriage (imam) to media as well as Is a marriage valid saying that the get the consent of the information on the without the Council of Senior prospective bride ground, in practice, it is woman’s consent? Marriage can only take place Scholars had ruled before concluding the not uncommon for Is the practice of that forced marriage. Generally, women (especially forcing women to with the free and full consent and forced marriage is marriages are “a a woman’s consent is young women) to be marry against their major injustice” and given orally before forced into unwanted will (ijbar) prohibited under the Islamic Sharia.37 “un-Islamic.” the imam and both marriages because the prohibited? Is there According to the the woman and her guardianship system a standard statement: “Forcing male guardian are renders women marriage contract? a woman to marry required to sign the vulnerable to abuse.43 39 If so, what are its someone she does marriage contract. For instance : broad provisions not want and and is there preventing her from In 2016, the Justice • The consent of the anything particular wedding whom she Ministry issued a male guardian is often deemed in the contract that chooses … is not directive stating that sufficient proof of ought to be permissible. Anyone women must be a bride’s highlighted on the who insists on provided a copy of basis that it the marriage acceptance; forcing a woman … 40 advances women’s to marry against her contact. rights or otherwise? • The imam rarely asks will is disobeying a woman to show her Is it mandatory to There is a God and His prophet face or compare it register a standardised (Mohammed) under marriage contract. It with her ID. This marriage? 38 Islamic law.” is a simple form makes it easy for any
36 Saudi Arabia State party report, U.N. Doc. CRC/C/SAU/3-4 (2015), para. 72, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRC/Pages/CRCIndex.aspx#sthash.cDNPOz37.dpuf; Tahirih Justice Centre, “Saudi Arabia”, Forced Marriages Overseas, http://preventforcedmarriage.org/forced-marriage-overseas-saudi-arabia/ 37 Saudi Arabia Reply to List of Issues, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/SAU/Q/3-4/Add.1, para 41, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CEDAW/Pages/CEDAWIndex.aspx 38 Agencies, “Grand Mufit bans force marriages in Saudi Arabia”, Gulf News, 13 April 2015, http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/grand-mufti-bans- forced-marriages-in-saudi-arabia-1.284338; BBC, “Saudi Arabia bans forced marriage”, BBC, 12 April 2015, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4437667.stm 39 Staff Writer, “Saudi Grooms Told Verbal Approval Required From Bride to Marry”, Gulf Business, 28 July 2016, http://gulfbusiness.com/saudi-grooms-told- verbal-approval-required-bride-marry 40 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017; Human Rights Watch, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System”, 2016, p. 49, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf; )
Applicable CEDAW that:41 woman to consent Provision answer on her • Asks for the behalf;44 Article 16(1)(b) amount of the dower (mahr); Forced marriages and Paras. 15-16 GR21 • Permits child marriages are stipulations to be Paras. 25-26, 33-34 difficult to annul, as made by the women must prove the GR29 contracting absence of their consent parties; through “impossible” measures such as not • Requires the attending the wedding intended bride to party or not allowing specify whether their husband to she is a virgin, consummate the widow, or marriage.45 divorcee but does not require the Under-age marriage can same information be difficult to annul in the of the man. absence of media or other public interventions46. Registration of the marriage is mandatory following which, a new ID is issued for the family.42
43 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017; Human Rights Watch, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System“, (2016), p. 49, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf; Maha Yamani, “Polygamy and Law in Contemporary Saudi Arabia” (UK: Ithaca Press, 2008), p. 84; Abdul Rahman Shaheen, “Human rights body intervenes to stop child marriage in Saudi Arabia”, Gulf News, 8 July 2009, http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-ara Information received from Saudi advocate, February 2018bia/human-rights-body-intervenes-to-stop-child-marriage- in-saudi-arabia-1.500470 41 Eleanor Abdella Doumato, “Saudi Arabia”, in Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa: Progress Amid Resistance, eds. Sanja Kelly and Julia Breslin (New York, NY: Freedom House; Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), pp. 8-9, https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/inline_images/Saudi%20Arabia.pdf 42 Website of the Ministry of Interior: https://goo.gl/W8TZhZ; Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017 44 Information received from Saudi advocate, February 2018.
Women’s capacity Regardless of her age, a Adel cases are In 2016, the Ministry Both the wife and Although a bride has the to enter into woman requires the consent often resolved in of Justice removed husband can right to marry whomever marriage of a marital guardian (wali) favour of the from its website negotiate their she chooses and she to marry. If a guardian guardian as “faskh al-nikah li marriage rights prior can negotiate her continually opposes her judges often ‘adam takafu’ al- to marriage.53 marriage contract, in Is consent of a marriage (adel), the woman respect a nasab” (divorce for practice, according to marital guardian may file a case in court guardian’s lack of genealogical academic research, civil 52 (wali) required? If whereby the judge may decision compatibility). society and information 54 so, can a woman authorise the marriage after regarding the on the ground: choose her own determining the suitability of suitability of a 47 49 wali? Can a woman the marriage. marriage. In 2010, in the go before a court or • It is possible for any other competent case of Samar woman to answer the authority to seek Any male relative of a Badawi, the marriage officer on permission to marry woman may petition the judge not only behalf of the bride if her wali refuses to court to revoke a marriage ruled in favour of because of the veiling consent to her on the ground that the the father, he practice; marriage? Can a marriage is unfit, which is also accused woman negotiate based mainly on Samar of • There are instances when the marriage her martial rights genealogical parental contract is drawn up prior to marriage incompatibility.48 disobedience by the woman’s male
45 Human Rights Watch, “Boxed In: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System”, (2016), p. 39, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf 46 Summary of stakeholders’ submission to the universal period review of Saudi Arabia, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/WG.6/17/SAU/3 (2013), p. 7, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/SAindex.aspx 47 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017; Human Rights Watch, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System”, 2016, p. 49, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf; Staff Writer, “Saudi Grooms Told Verbal Approval Required From Bride to Marry”, Gulf Business, 28 July 2016, http://gulfbusiness.com/saudi-grooms-told-verbal-approval-required-bride-marry 48 Saudi Women for Reform, “Saudi Arabia Shadow Report”, Submission to the CEDAW Committee for the 40th Session, 2007, p. 13, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/SAU/INT_CEDAW_NGO_SAU_40_10011_E.pdf; Hatoon al-Fassi, “Mansour and Fatima and the Victory of the Muslim State over Tribal practices”, Al-Riyadh, February 2010, http://www.alriyadh.com/498377 49 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017; Human Rights Watch, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System”, 2016, p. 49, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf; Staff Writer, “Saudi Grooms Told Verbal Approval Required From Bride to Marry”, Gulf Business, 28 July 2016, http://gulfbusiness.com/saudi-grooms-told-verbal-approval-required-bride-marry
and can these (‘uquq) and sent relatives (not the rights be changed her to prison.50 woman herself). Thus, during marriage? If in these instances, so, who can change the stipulations in the contract depend on these rights and In 2006, in the under what what the bride’s family case of Fatimah is willing to negotiate circumstances e.g. al-Azzaz, upon for her; mutual consent? the death of Fatimah’s father, her half-brothers • The common Applicable CEDAW petitioned the stipulations a wife Provision court to revoke inserts into the marriage contract the marriage relate to her right to Articles 16(1)(a), between 16(1)(b) continue her Fatimah and her education and her Paras. 15-16 GR21 husband, right not to be housed Mansour al- with her husband’s Para. 34 GR29 Taymani. family; Fatimah’s half- brothers had claimed that • The common Mansour stipulations a belonged to a husband inserts into the marriage contract tribe of lower include forbidding the genealogy. wife from leaving the Although by the house within his time the petition permission (main was filed in stipulation), requiring
52 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017 53 L.L Wynn, “Marriage Contracts and Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia: Mahr, Shurut, and Knowledge Distribution”, 2008, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275644031; Maha Yamani, “Polygamy and Law in Contemporary Saudi Arabia” (UK: Ithaca Press, 2008), p. 107 54 Saudi Women for Reform, “Saudi Arabia Shadow Report”, Submission to the CEDAW Committee for the 40th Session, 2007, p. 13, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/SAU/INT_CEDAW_NGO_SAU_40_10011_E.pdf; Maha Yamani, “Polygamy and Law in Contemporary Saudi Arabia” (UK: Ithaca Press, 2008), p. 107; L.L Wynn, “Marriage Contracts and Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia: Mahr, Shurut, and Knowledge Distribution”, 2008, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275644031 50 Amanda Figueras, “Saudi Samar’s Activist Struggle: Samar Badawi”, The Islamic Monthly, 1 April 2015, http://theislamicmonthly.com/saudi-samars-activist- struggle-samar-badawi/; Edwin Mora, “Saudi Arabia Arrests Hilary Clinton’s ‘Woman of Courage’ Award-Winner”, Breitbart, 13 January 2016, http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/01/13/female-activist-who-got-courage-award-from-hillary-clinton-arrested-by-saudis/
court, Fatimah that the wife not and Mansour spend his money already had a without his permission daughter and a and forbidding the son, the court wife from admitting ruled in favour of individuals into the marital home whom the half- he does not approve brothers. of. Fatimah and Mansour lost their appeal. Although the Ministry of Fatimah was Justice has removed imprisoned with divorce for lack of her children genealogical (one was only compatibility from its two months old) website, the practice of for not accepting male relative seeking to the court ruling revoke a marriage on and not wanting that ground and the to go to her half- court procedure of brothers’ house. dealing with such cases She also had no continue. It is also not other safe place uncommon for husbands to go. Fatimah to be rightly or wrongly and Mansour accused of deceit were only regarding their reunited when genealogy in these she was cases prior to the pardoned. Their conclusion of the case set a marriage.55 precedent for other similar court cases i.e. where relatives contested a
55 Mohammed al-Sulaymi, “Fraud, Deceit about Lineage Prompts Court Ruling Forcing Wife to Divorce Husband”, Arab News, 11 October 2016, http://www.arabnews.com/node/996551/saudi-arabia
marriage on the grounds of the pre-Islamic practice of non- compatible genealogy.51
Polygamous A Muslim man may marry up In 2001, the Grand A woman may not Available data suggests marriages to four wives at one time Mufti issued a stipulate in the that polygamy is without much restrictions religious ruling marriage contract common in Saudi 61 e.g. no requirement to seek (fatwa) calling upon that her husband Arabia. In 2016:
Does the law permission of the court for or Saudi women to cannot take on • More than half a prohibit polygamy to inform his existing wife of accept polygamy as another wife. the new marriage. The only part of the “Islamic However, she may million Saudi men or impose strict (about 5% of Saudi requirement is that he can package” and make stipulations in conditions on such men) were reported to practice? Is the support and treat his wives declaring that her marriage contract 56 60 have more than one permission of the equally. polygamy was stating that: wife at a time;62 necessary to fight court required for a polygamous against the growing • Around 73,000 men marriage? Is the Temporary (misyar) epidemic of aged 25-49 engaged 58 • She be divorced if permission of an marriages, which involve the spinsterhood. her husband takes in polygamous on an additional relationships; men existing wife wife waiving her rights to required for a maintenance, wife; aged 50-54 came in the second place and polygamous accommodation and In 2006, the more than 16,000 marriage? Is it cohabitation with the International Islamic • The polygamous husband pay her a men aged 60-64 were necessary to inform husband, are legal and Fiqh married to at least an existing wife of common.57 certain amount of Academy issued a money; and three women at a
51 Saudi Women for Reform, “Saudi Arabia Shadow Report”, Submission to the CEDAW Committee for the 40th Session, 2007, p. 13, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/SAU/INT_CEDAW_NGO_SAU_40_10011_E.pdf; Hatoon al-Fassi, Mansour and Fatima and the Victory of the Muslim State over Tribal practices, Al-Riyadh (2010), http://www.alriyadh.com/498377 56 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017; OECD Development Centre, “Saudi Arabia”, Social Institutions and Gender Index, p. 1, http://www.genderindex.org/sites/default/files/datasheets/SA.pdf 57 Maha Yamani, “Polygamy and Law in Contemporary Saudi Arabia” (UK: Ithaca Press, 2008), p. 107; Lynn Welchman, “Women and Muslim Family Laws in Arab States: A Comparative Overview of Textual Development and Advocacy”, (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2007), p. 54,
the polygamous fatwa permitting time. marriage? Are temporary (misyar) • She and her temporary marriages provided children be given a According to academic marriages such as the bride’s guardian separate house to research, women are traveler’s marriages and two witnesses live in with their often reluctant to insert (misyar) are present and the children. polygamy-related recognised? Is it contract is stipulations into their necessary to concluded on marriage contracts register a mutually agreed because society polygamous upon and binding (including women) deem marriage? Can a conditions.59 such demands 63 woman stipulate in shameful. In addition, the marriage the enforcement of such 64 contract that her stipulations is difficult. intended husband cannot enter into a polygamous According to academic marriage? research, media reports and information on the
ground, a number of Applicable CEDAW women engage in Provision polygamous unions as they prefer to be married Para. 14 GR21 and enjoy a more ‘respectable’ social
https://goo.gl/AeQSDU; Saudi Gazette, “Unable to afford marriage expenses, young men go for ‘misyar’”, Saudi Gazette, 29 October 2015, http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-arabia/unable-to-afford-marriage-expenses-young-men-go-for-misyar/ 58 IBP Inc., “Saudi Arabia Criminal Laws, Regulations and Procedures”, (USA: IBP Inc., 2015), p. 97, 60 L.L Wynn, “Marriage Contracts and Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia: Mahr, Shurut, and Knowledge Distribution”, 2008, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275644031 61 Staff writer, “Over half million Saudi men engaged in polygamy, report shows”, Al Arabiya, 2016, http://english.alarabiya.net/en/variety/2016/10/25/Over- half-million-Saudi-men-engaged-in-polygamy-in-2016-report-shows.html 62 According to the General Authority for Statistics, there were about 10.2 million Saudi men in 2016, https://www.stats.gov.sa/en/5305 59 Esther van Eijk, “Sharia and National Law in Saudi Arabia”, in Sharia Incorporated: A Comparative Overview of the Legal Systems of Twelve Muslim Countries in Past and Present, ed. Jan Michiel Otto (Leiden, The Netherlands: Leiden University Press, 2010), pp. 164-165, https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/ha dle/1887/21170/file221087.pdf?sequence=1 63 L.L Wynn, “Marriage Contracts and Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia: Mahr, Shurut, and Knowledge Distribution”, 2008, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275644031 64 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017
Para. 34 GR29 status. Marriage may give a woman more freedom to pursue her own interests in life, such as studying or working. This is especially true for those divorced well-off mothers who enter into a misyar marriage for the company and because they need a man to carry out administrative duties.65
According to a media report, misyar marriages are on the rise in Saudi Arabia due to unaffordable living expenses.66 In 2017 the hashtag “we-demand-that- polygamy-becomes- compulsory” was trending on Saudi Twitter, indicating popular support for the practice of polygamy
65 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017; Matt Young, “Rising number of spinsters and divorced women in Saudi Arabia leads to polygamy push”, New.com, 11 January 2017, http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/marriage/rising-number-of-spinsters-and-divorced-women-in-saudi- arabia-leads-to-polygamy-push/news-story/a5c40bc6bd190db41a72702e87f9eadc; Esther van Eijk, “Sharia and National Law in Saudi Arabia”, in Sharia Incorporated: A Comparative Overview of the Legal Systems of Twelve Muslim Countries in Past and Present, ed. Jan Michiel Otto (Leiden, The Netherlands: Leiden University Press, 2010), p. 165, https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/ha dle/1887/21170/file221087.pdf?sequence=1 66 Saudi Gazette, “Unable to afford marriage expenses, young men go for ‘misyar’”, Saudi Gazette, 29 October 2015, http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi- arabia/unable-to-afford-marriage-expenses-young-men-go-for-misyar/
which could further discourage women who do not wish to participate in polygamous marriages.67
Divorce rights Women do not enjoy an In 2009, a court Although the Saudi Arabia has a equal right to divorce as in the Red Sea husband is the relatively high rate of men. Men have the right to city of Jeddah guardian of his wife, divorce which has Is there equal right unilaterally divorce without finalised the the latter can petition exponentially increased to divorce between any restrictions while women divorce of a the court for a divorce in the recent years. women and men? have to satisfy specific and woman whose without the husband’s Number of divorce cases 78 Can the husband limited grounds to obtain husband approval. handled by courts divorce without divorce. unilaterally reached 53,675 in 2017 divorced her or 149 cases each day. reason and without having to go to through a text According to the Civil Further, the actual figure court? What are the There are three different message he Status Code, it could be much higher main forms of sent while he mandatory to register than the officially mechanisms for divorce: 81 divorce? Can all was in Iraq a divorce within two reported number. informing her forms of divorce be months of its she was no 79 sought only through i) Unilateral occurrence. longer his wife. the courts? Are the divorce (talaq) Additionally, only a According to a media The husband grounds for divorce man may register a report, Saudi women the same for the followed up with divorce – primarily started a campaign in husband and wife? Under this, a husband has a telephone call the husband or, in his 2008 aimed at showing Is unilateral divorce the right to unilateral divorce to two of his absence, a male the mishaps and by repudiation through repudiation (talaq) friends that had relative.80 injustices that affect (talāq) prohibited? If without restrictions and witnessed his women with regard to marriage. The
67 Mariam Nabbout, “ ‘Make polygamy compulsory’ hashtag goes viral in Saudi Arabia”, StepFeed, 24 October 2017, https://stepfeed.com/make- polygamy-compulsory-hashtag-goes-viral-in-saudi-arabia-2864.
unilateral divorce is without the presence of the court finalised their divorce rights. The not prohibited, what wife. 68 the divorce after 73 points demands of is the procedure i.e. summoning the the Saudi women were is the presence of two friends to sent to the Shura 82 the spouse to be The divorce is effective check they had Council in vain. divorced required, received word of immediately. The former are witnesses husband can go to the the husband's required, does the courts at a later date and intention. The Based on academic spouse seeking obtain a document of his court also ruled research, civil society divorce need to go decision and send a copy to that the woman reports and information to court, is the the former wife.69 did not have to on the ground, the divorced spouse go through the following are some of the informed of the post-divorce challenges that women divorce? Is the waiting period A husband may delegate his face with regard to their unilateral right to (iddah) as the 83 unilateral right to divorce his divorce rights: divorce delegated marriage was wife (isma) through a to the wife? If so, is not stipulation in the marriage 74 it by law or through consummated. contract.70 Unilateral Divorce: the marriage
78 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017 79 Civil Status Code, issued by Royal Order no. m/7 on 20/4/1407 (Hijri), with amendments, Ministry of Interior, https://www.moi.gov.sa/wps/wcm/connect/c152dd004d4bb7bd8debddbed7ca8368/AR_civil_affairs_system.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=c152dd004d4bb7bd 8debddbed7ca8368, article 46. 80 Civil Status Code, issued by Royal Order no. m/7 on 20/4/1407 (Hijri), with amendments, Ministry of Interior, https://www.moi.gov.sa/wps/wcm/connect/c152dd004d4bb7bd8debddbed7ca8368/AR_civil_affairs_system.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=c152dd004d4bb7bd 8debddbed7ca8368, article 47. 81 Staff writer, “A rundown on reasons for rising divorce rate in Saudi Arabia”, Saudi Gazette, 10 February 2018, http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/527994/SAUDI- ARABIA/A-rundown-on-reasons-for-rising-divorce-rate-in-Saudi-Arabia
68 Human Rights Watch, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System”, 2016, p. 51, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf; OECD Development Centre, “Saudi Arabia”, Social Institutions and Gender Index, p. 2, https://www.genderindex.org/wp-content/uploads/files/datasheets/SA.pdf. 69 Saudiwoman’s Weblog, “Divorce in Saudi Arabia”, Saudiwoman’s Weblog, 7 April 2009, https://saudiwoman.me/2009/04/07/divorce-in-saudi-arabia/ 70 Eleanor Abdella Doumato, “Saudi Arabia”, in Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa: Progress Amid Resistance, eds. Sanja Kelly and Julia Breslin (New York, NY: Freedom House; Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), pp. 9-10, https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/inline_images/Saudi%20Arabia.pdf 74 Reuters, “Saudi man divorces wife by text message”, Al Arabiya, 9 April 2009, https://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/04/09/70302.html 82 Haifa Khaled, “A Woman in the Kingdom is of Less Importance than a Traffic Light”, Akhbar 24, 11 June 2013, http://akhbaar24.argaam.com/article/detail/139027 [arabic link]
contract? Is it ii) Judicial divorce (faskh) • While the right to mandatory to unilateral divorce may register a divorce? This is a fault based divorce In 2016, local be delegated to the and a wife may seek judicial media reported wife through the divorce if she is able to a few khul’ marriage contract, in prove at least one of the few cases in which: practice, such Applicable CEDAW available grounds for stipulations are Provision divorce, which include her uncommon. It is considered shameful Article 16(1)(c) husband’s desertion, - a judge to include such impotence, loathsome granted khul’ to Paras. 17-18 GR21 71 stipulations. In disease, and mistreatment. a wife based on addition, many the husband’s Paras. 34, 39-40 In order to obtain this marriage officers failure to GR29 divorce, women are required refuse to include it in perform his daily the marriage contract to undergo a mandatory prayers and in spite of a request mediation process which is ordered the wife by the woman as they usually headed by two or to pay her consider such a more male religious officials. husband condition ‘un-Islamic.’ 72 SAR55,000.75 Consequently, without a firm law allowing iii) Redemptive divorce women to request for (khul’)
83 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017; Human Rights Watch, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System”, 2016, pp. 52,53, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf; Saudi Women for Reform, “Saudi Arabia Shadow Report”, Submission to the CEDAW Committee for the 40th Session, 2007, pp. 31, 71, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/SAU/INT_CEDAW_NGO_SAU_40_10011_E.pdf; Esther van Eijk, “Sharia and National Law in Saudi Arabia”, in Sharia Incorporated: A Comparative Overview of the Legal Systems of Twelve Muslim Countries in Past and Present, ed. Jan Michiel Otto (Leiden, The Netherlands: Leiden University Press, 2010), pp. 163-164, https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/ha dle/1887/21170/file221087.pdf?sequence=1; Eleanor Abdella Doumato, “Saudi Arabia”, in Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa: Progress Amid Resistance, eds. Sanja Kelly and Julia Breslin (New York, NY: Freedom House; Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), pp. 9-10, https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/inline_images/Saudi%20Arabia.pdf; Lynn Welchman, “Women and Muslim Family Laws in Arab States: A Comparative Overview of Textual Development and Advocacy”, (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2007), p. 102, https://goo.gl/AeQSDU; Saudi Gazette, “Personal Status Court improves performance”, Saudi Gazette, 28 November 2016, http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-arabia/personal-status-court- improves-performance/ 71 Human Rights Watch, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System”, 2016, p. 52, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf; Eleanor Abdella Doumato, “Saudi Arabia”, in Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa: Progress Amid Resistance, eds. Sanja Kelly and Julia Breslin (New York, NY: Freedom House; Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), p. 10, https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/inline_images/Saudi%20Arabia.pdf Human Rights Watch, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System”, 2016, p. 52, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf. /أﻏرب ﺣﺎﻟﺔ ﺧﻠﻊ ﻟﻣواطﻧﺔ ﺳﻌودﯾﺔ ﻣن زوﺟﮭﺎ ب/Strangest Khul’ Case of a Saudi Woman in Jeddah, Almowaten.net, February 13, 2016, https://www.almowaten.net/2016/02 75 ------
the delegated right to divorce, women A wife may also seek - a judge denied remain vulnerable to redemptive divorce a khul’ petition personal judgment (khul’), whereby she is despite the and at the mercy of granted a divorce in husband’s procedure writers. exchange for a mutually- alleged abuse, Additionally, although agreed compensation to cross-dressing, stipulations in the be paid to the husband. failure to provide marriage contract are financial enforceable under the A special fund has been maintenance, Hanbali jurisprudence, in allocated by the government and criminal practice many to help women who cannot record, which conditions are denied pay to leave their the latter judge husbands.73 enforcement by considered judges. inadequate reasons.76 • Though it is mandatory to register the - a judge divorce, in rejected a khul’ practice, the request by a deadline for wife who stated divorce that her registration is husband’s often ignored, behavior was and a woman too controlling may not even be and that he notified or have prevented her knowledge of from leaving the the divorce until many years house , and later. instead referred
the husband and
73 Summary of stakeholders’ submission to the universal period review of Saudi Arabia, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/WG.6/17/SAU/3 (2013), p. 7,
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/SAindex.aspx /ﺳﻌودﯾﺔ ﺗﻔﺷل ﻓﻲ ﺧﻠﻊ زوﺟﮭﺎ ﺑﻘرار ﻣن اﻟﻘﺎض/A Saudi Woman Fails to Obtain Khul’, Rotana, May 5, 2016, http://rotana.net 76 ------
wife to a Judicial divorce: mediation process .77
• While women may initiate divorce without her husband’s approval, it is not always possible for them to access the courts for reasons that include: (i) women, who cannot drive in Saudi Arabia, need a car to reach these courts; (ii) women often lack legal knowledge; and (iii) courts are not known to be a friendly environment. In fact, court staff are male dominated and female lawyers were only allowed to appear in court beginning in 2013;
• It is very difficult for a woman to obtain a judicial divorce. Proving harm in her marriage, for instance, is quite a challenge.
• There are no codified guidelines
(/ب-زوﺟﮭﺎ-ﻣن-ﺳﻌودﯾﺔ-ﻟﻣواطﻧﺔ-ﺧﻠﻊ-ﺣﺎﻟﺔ-أﻏرب/Strangest case of khul’ of a Saudi woman, Almowaten, 2 February, 2013 (Arabic) https://www.almowaten.net/2016/02 77
regarding the available grounds for granting divorce.
• It is not uncommon for judges to act in a biased manner and even propose a khul’ in order to secure financial compensation for the husband
• The mandatory mediation process which is administered by a religious conciliation committee is problematic as it delays the divorce proceedings and makes women uncomfortable. Some women have reported that men on these committees sometimes make improper advances or try to minimize women’s grievances and simply advise them to be patient and obedient.
Redemptive Divorce:
• In Saudi courts, khul’ may be granted only if the wife’s reasons for seeking a divorce are deemed acceptable by the judge.84 Thus, a judge has the discretion to grant or deny the khul’ and to specify the compensation to be paid by the wife to the husband. There are no codified guidelines on what constitutes acceptable khul’ reasons. ,
• In practice, lawyers might refuse to bring khul’ cases if they find a wife’s reasons to be trivial.85
• In Khul’ It is common for the wife to pay back the full amount of her dower (mahr) and forfeit her financial rights which makes it a very costly affair. 86
84 Information received from Saudi advocates, February 2018 85 Information received from Saudi advocates, February 2018 86 Human Rights Watch, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System”, 2016, p. 52, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf; Eleanor Abdella Doumato, “Saudi Arabia”, in Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa: Progress Amid Resistance, eds. Sanja Kelly and Julia Breslin (New York, NY: Freedom House; Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), p. 10, https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/inline_images/Saudi%20Arabia.pdf.
In November 2016, the Saudi Gazette reported that the Family court in Riyadh displayed a significant improvement in performance by handling 75% of backlog in a matter of 20 working days.87
Women’s financial Upon a divorce, a woman is There is a procedure According to information rights after entitled to financial set out to ensure a on the ground, there is a divorce maintenance during the husband pays the gap between the legal waiting period after the court-ordered obligation of the former divorce (iddah) unless she financial maintenance husband to pay post- Is there a legal has forfeited her financial after the divorce. The divorce maintenance to concept of rights. The iddah period is woman needs to start the former wife and its 88 93 matrimonial assets? usually three months. the process by filing a enforcement for suit for maintenance. reasons that include: (i) Is there equal division of marital The judge will then lack of awareness property upon A woman may request for a form a committee to among women of their assess the amount to rights; and (ii) the dissolution of the consolatory gift or marriage? Is the compensation (mu’tah). be disbursed by the procedure to enforce a woman’s role as However, this is rarely husband. Thereafter, court-ordered wife and mother granted.89 a woman can get her maintenance is lengthy.
87 Saudi Gazette, “Personal status court improves performance”, Thomsan Reuters Zawya, 28 November, 2016, https://www.zawya.com/mena/en/story/Personal_status_court_improves_performance-ZAWYA20161128035144/
88 Eleanor Abdella Doumato, “Saudi Arabia”, in Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa: Progress Amid Resistance, eds. Sanja Kelly and Julia Breslin (New York, NY: Freedom House; Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), p. 10, https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/inline_images/Saudi%20Arabia.pdf 89 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017
recognised as maintenance by contribution to the asking the judge for a acquisition of Saudi Arabia has issued letter directed to the The lack of a financial assets? What Enforcement Law which Saudi Monetary support system or spousal provides for the immediate Authority requesting division of assets maintenance are enforcement of orders and a bank statement of following a divorce is a available to the wife rulings in personal status all the man’s significant hurdle limiting after a divorce? Is matters including financial property. The court women’s ability to exit she entitled to maintenance and the will then send a text abusive or harmful maintenance during imposition of penalties to message to the marriages. Even under the waiting period expedite execution. This husband’s mobile the mandated three- after the divorce law’s implementing number informing him month financial (iddah)? Is she regulations were issues In of the court’s maintenance (nafaqa) entitled to a February 2013 by Ministerial decision. The and compensation consolatory gift or Order. husband should (mut’aa) system, the compensation upon conform and carry amount provided to a If the enforcement order divorced wife is often divorce (mut’ah)? includes a periodic financial out the payment 94 92 arbitrary and limited. Who is responsible payment, then this payment within five days. for the financial takes precedence over other maintenance of debt. 90 children following a divorce? Can the couple agree to the There is no legal concept of division of assets matrimonial assets. acquired during marriage in the marriage contract? Can this stipulation Following a divorce, a father be amended? If so, is responsible for the by who and on what financial maintenance of his
93 Eleanor Abdella Doumato, “Saudi Arabia”, in Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa: Progress Amid Resistance, eds. Sanja Kelly and Julia Breslin (New York, NY: Freedom House; Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), p. 10, https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/inline_images/Saudi%20Arabia.pdf [ 90 Saudi Arabia State party report, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/SAU/3-4 (2016), paras 145, 146, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/TreatyBodyExternal/Countries.aspx?CountryCode=SAU&Lang=EN 92 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017 94 Information received from Saudi advocates, February 2018.
basis e.g. mutual children. If the mother is the consent? custodian, he is obligated to pay her maintenance to cover the expense of his 91 Applicable CEDAW children. Provision
Articles 16(1)(c), 16(1)(h)
Paras. 30-33 GR21
Paras. 34-35, 43-48 GR29
Custody of A mother has priority right Decisions Based on civil society Children over her daughter until she regarding and media reports as turns seven and her son until custody vary well as information on
he turns nine. Thereafter, according to the the ground, some of the Do parents have custody of daughters is judge’s personal issues of concern equal rights over transferred to the father views. While regarding child custody 99 the custody of their while sons are given the some judges do include: choice.95 decide custody children? If no, who has priority right cases on the basis of the best over the custody of • Judges lack of the child? Is A mother may have custody interest of the training in social and custody decided over her daughter after the child, in many family welfare. This based on the best age of seven if she has not instances, the has led to cases interest of the remarried but the father primary concern whereby unfit fathers child? Do mothers has.96 of judges is that have been awarded custody or judges
91 Saudi Women for Reform, “Saudi Arabia Shadow Report”, Submission to the CEDAW Committee for the 40th Session, 2007, p. 72, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/SAU/INT_CEDAW_NGO_SAU_40_10011_E.pdf 95 Human Rights Watch, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System”, 2016, p. 54, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf 96 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017
automatically lose the child be recognise paternal custody upon raised in grandparents’ claim to remarriage or if she The state has issued Order accordance with the child over the is deemed No. 27808 of 16 Jumada II Islamic faith. In mother’s. Also, disobedient or A.H. 1438 (15 March A.D. this regard, a sometimes the mere when the child 2017) which includes a study judge may just appearance of a woman (the way in reaches a of best procedures for base his ruling which she is veiled, designated age dealing with cases relating to on which of the guardianship and custody. and her ability to when custody goes two parents answer back and to father? The order contains various appear more directives related to knowledge of her conservative. rights, etc.) might children’s custody e.g. Thus a mother cause a judge to rule instructing the Supreme Applicable CEDAW has been known against her; Court to promulgate judicial to lose custody Provision principles to decide on most over her children • Women fear losing Articles 16(1)(d), suitable party for custody; if she: (i) custody over their 16(1)(f) providing adequate support remarries; (ii) children should they to Judges hearing cases of resides in a file for divorce as “in Paras. 19-20 GR21 custody; raising awareness home with a most child custody of issues related to custody non-relative; (iii) cases, the father usually wins.” This to better inform the Judges; moves to has led women to and reviewing relevant laws another country; either not file for to propose appropriate (iv) has satellite amendments to regulate divorce despite being TV; or (v) listens in a bad marriage or work and facilitate procedure 98 to music. being pressured to in cases of custody, among seek a khul’ divorce to others. 97 her detriment;
99 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017; Eleanor Abdella Doumato, “Saudi Arabia”, in Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa: Progress Amid Resistance, eds. Sanja Kelly and Julia Breslin (New York, NY: Freedom House; Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), p. 10, https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/inline_images/Saudi%20Arabia.pdf; Marian Nihal, “Women fear losing custody of their children if they file for divorce”, Arab News, 17 December 2011, http://www.arabnews.com/node/401246 97 Saudi Arabia Reply to List of Issues, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/SAU/Q/3-4/Add.1 (2017), para 6,
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/TreatyBodyExternal/Countries.aspx?CountryCode=SAU&Lang=EN.
98 For more, see the 30 volume court cases published by the Ministry of Justice, https://www.moj.gov.sa/ar- sa/ministry/versions/Documents/AhkamGroup_1434/30.pdf; Human Rights Watch, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System”, 2016, pp. 55-56, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf; Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, “ Saudi Arabia:
• Women endure the difficulty of having to travel back and forth to court for months and years but yet may have to deal not only with delays but disappointments at the end of the custody hearing.
Guardianship of A father has priority right According to information Children over the guardianship of the gathered by the children. In case of the Immigration and father’s death, guardianship Refugee Board of Do parents have is given to the male relatives Canada and information equal rights over of the father. The mother on the ground, although the guardianship of may request the right to a mother has custody their children? If no, guardianship, but this would over her children, it is who has priority take prolonged court the guardian who right over the hearings and such requests determines where the 100 guardianship of the are rarely granted. children live and when/where they travel. child? Is guardianship Though the mother can decided based on According to the regulations seek travel permission the best interest of of the Saudi Arabian from a court for her the child? Monetary Agency (SAMA), a children, such demands woman is not allowed to are rarely granted and if open a bank account in the they are granted, the authorisation to travel Applicable CEDAW name of her children except
Whether Saudi Arabian laws concerning child custody are applicable to Palestinians in Saudi Arabia, and whether Islamic Law provides that following a divorce a child must live with his or her mother for a period of seven years without contact with the father, after which time the child must be returned to the father”, 2002, http://www.refworld.org/docid/3f7d4e130.html 100 Saudi Women for Reform, “Saudi Arabia Shadow Report”, Submission to the CEDAW Committee for the 40th Session, 2007, p. 74, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/SAU/INT_CEDAW_NGO_SAU_40_10011_E.pdf
Provision with the father's consent, nor will only be valid for one is she allowed to carry any exit.104 Articles 16(1)(d), transactions on her child's 16(1)(f) behalf even if it is she is the one making the deposit.101 Paras. 19-20 GR21 • Mothers are still unable to change the civil status of their In 2014, the Supreme children, unless they Judicial Council ruled that are divorced or mothers who have custody widowed. They can of their children after divorce only obtain a copy of the husband's family can obtain documents and identification card, conduct government listing the names of business for their children. In his wives and 2015, the Council declared children and that the decision is to be dependents.105 applied retroactively. This enabled women to register their children in schools, • Over 21% of families take them to health centers, registered for and obtain identity government social 102 assistance were documents for them. headed by women as the main providers. Yet, The state has issued Order women are treated
101 Saudi Women for Reform, “Saudi Arabia Shadow Report”, Submission to the CEDAW Committee for the 40th Session, 2007, p. 3, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/SAU/INT_CEDAW_NGO_SAU_40_10011_E.pdf3, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/SAU/INT_CEDAW_NGO_SAU_40_10011_E.pdf; Hala Al-Qahtani, “Why SAMA prevents women to open accounts for children?”, Saudi Gazette, January 29, 2018, http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/527209/Opinion/Local- Viewpoint/Why-SAMA-prevents-women-to-open-accounts-for-children.
102 Human Rights Watch, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System”, 2016, p. 55, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf 104 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017; Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada,“ Saudi Arabia: Whether Saudi Arabian laws concerning child custody are applicable to Palestinians in Saudi Arabia, and whether Islamic Law provides that following a divorce a child must live with his or her mother for a period of seven years without contact with the father, after which time the child must be returned to the father”, 2002, http://www.refworld.org/docid/3f7d4e130.html 105 Information received from Saudi advocate, February 2018
No. 27808 of 16 Jumada II as heads of the A.H. 1438 (15 March A.D. family in a manner 2017) which includes a study similar to that of of best procedures for men. According to dealing with cases relating to the Civil Status Law, guardianship and custody. a woman may be considered head of The order contains various the household only if directives related to 106 her husband dies. children’s guardianship e.g. providing adequate support to Judges hearing cases of guardianship; raising awareness of issues related to guardianship to better inform the Judges; and reviewing relevant laws to propose appropriate amendments to regulate work and facilitate procedure in cases of guardianship of children, among others.103
Family Planning A woman is not allowed to: In 2014, the Shura According to World Bank 107 Council rejected a data, the total fertility population control rate decreased from 7.2 • Determine the number of policy document children per woman in Do women require 110 children she wants to 1960 to 2.7 in 2015. the consent of the prepared by the have without the husband to practise Ministry of Economic husband’s agreement; and Planning Family family planning, According to the UN and submitted the including abortions • Enter a hospital for Population Division’s
103 Saudi Arabia Reply to List of Issues, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/SAU/Q/3-4/Add.1 (2017), para 6, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/TreatyBodyExternal/Countries.aspx?CountryCode=SAU&Lang=EN.
106 Civil Status Code, issued by Royal Order no. m/7 on 20/4/1407 (Hijri), with amendments, Ministry of Interior, https://www.moi.gov.sa/wps/wcm/connect/c152dd004d4bb7bd8debddbed7ca8368/AR_civil_affairs_system.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=c152dd004d4bb7bd 8debddbed7ca8368, article 91 107 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017; Saudi Women for Reform, “Saudi Arabia Shadow Report”, Submission to the CEDAW Committee for the 40th Session, 2007, pp. 3, 72, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/SAU/INT_CEDAW_NGO_SAU_40_10011_E.pdf
and sterilisation in delivery except with her planning document 2015 Trends in law or in practice? husband’s approval, nor to the Saudi king for Contraceptive Use can she be discharged his opinion.109 Worldwide:111 from hospital or without his signature (subject to Applicable CEDAW clarification of the April Provision 2017 decree); • 37% of married women aged 15-49 Articles 16(1)(e), 12 • Officially do anything to are using a method of contraception, with Paras. 21-23 GR21 their genitals and womb without the husband’s 31% of women using a consent (i.e. theoretically modern method; and practically, the husband owns these 24% of married parts). • women aged 15-49
have an unmet need Abortion is strictly prohibited for family planning by law, except when it is services; and necessary to save the pregnant woman’s life.108 • 50% of marriage women aged 15-49 had their demands for family planning satisfied by modern methods of contraception.
Personal rights of Saudi Arabia practices a Article 3(a) of the According to World Bank spouses male guardianship system Ministry of Health data, female labour force whereby all women must Manual for participation increased
110 The World Bank, “Fertility rates, total (births per woman)”, http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN 108 Centre for Reproductive Rights, “The World’s Abortion Laws’, 2014, https://www.reproductiverights.org/sites/crr.civicactions.net/files/documents/AbortionMap2014.PDF 109 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017 111 United Nations Population Division, “Trends in Contraceptive Use Worldwide 2015”, Annex Table 1, pp. 36-42, http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/family/trendsContraceptiveUse2015Report.pdf
have a male guardian. Medical decreased from 14% in 120 Subject to the clarification on Practitioners 1990 to 20% in 2016. Does a woman the implementation of the During the same period, need the consent of states that “men April 2017 royal decree, should not male labour force her spouse or women cannot go to school, participation was stable examine women, guardian to work, travel, work, enter into at 79%.121 and vice versa, choose a restaurants, hotels, have an profession, leave operation, apply for a unless it is not the house, travel, possible to find an passport, etc. without the According to the 2016 drive, receive approval of the guardian.112 alternative various health UNDP Human The guardian need not technician of the Development Report:122 services, study, etc. always be the husband. It is same sex as the on her behalf? not uncommon for a patient to perform Does a woman widowed mother to seek the have the right to the tasks 63% of women over permission of her son to 119 • needed.” 25 have at least some retain her birth travel.113 name upon secondary education marriage or to as compared to 72% choose her family of men of the same name? Can a Women are also barred from age group; woman protect her driving, making Saudi Arabia personal rights the only country in the world that does not allow women • 99% of females and through her males aged 15-24 are to drive.114 marriage contract? able to read and write a short simple sentence; and
Applicable CEDAW Women retain their birth Provision name upon marriage. • 79% of women are satisfied with their
112 Human Rights Watch, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System”, 2016, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf; Saudi Women for Reform, “Saudi Arabia Shadow Report”, Submission to the CEDAW Committee for the 40th Session, 2007, pp. 2-3, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/SAU/INT_CEDAW_NGO_SAU_40_10011_E.pdf; Josie Ensor, “Saudis File First-Ever Petition to End Male Guardianship”, The Telegraph, 26 September 2016, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/26/saudis-file-first-ever-petition-to-end- male-guardianship/ 113 Human Rights Watch, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System”, 2016, p. 22, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf 114 Adam Coogle, “Women should take the wheel in Saudi Arabia”, Human Rights Watch, 5 December 2016, https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/12/05/women- should-take-wheel-saudi-arabia
Article 16(1)(g) freedom of choice as compared to 84% of Para. 24 GR21 In 2012, the Ministry of men. Health approved a regulation Para. 34 GR29 to allow female patients Some women are above 18 years old to sign their own admission and prevented from leaving release forms without male their homes without their guardian.115 guardian’s permission and guardians can bring legal claims requesting that judges order a The Labor Code does not female dependent to require a guardian’s return to the family permission for a woman home.123 to work.116
Even though not A guardian’s permission is mandated by law, in not required by law for a practice women need woman to enroll in a guardian’s permission to school or higher receive identity documents, access education institutions. courts, healthcare, and
119 Hala Aldosaria, The Effect of Gender Norms on Women’s Health in Saudi Arabia, May 2, 2017, pp.6-7, http://www.agsiw.org/wp- content/uploads/2017/05/Aldosari_Womens-Health_Online-1.pdf 120 The World Bank, “Labour force participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15+) (modelled ILO estimate)”, http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.FE.ZS 121 The World Bank, “Labour force participation rate, male (% of male population ages 15+) (modelled ILO estimate)”, http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.MA.ZS 122 UNDP, “Human Development Report 2016”, Tables 5, 9, 14, pp. 214-217, 230-233, 250-253, http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/2016_human_development_report.pdf 115 Hala Aldosari, “The Effect of Gender Norms on Women’s Health in Saudi Arabia”, May 2, 2017, p.6 http://www.agsiw.org/wp- content/uploads/2017/05/Aldosari_Womens-Health_Online-1.pdf . 116 Saudi Labor Code, issued Royal Decree no. m/51 on 23/8/1426(Hijri) and last amended on 5/6/1436(Hijri), pdf.ﻧظﺎم%20اﻟﻌﻣل_https://mlsd.gov.sa/sites/default/files/3 123 Human Rights Watch, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System”, 2016, p. 20, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf
education. For instance: In 2013, the Council of Ministers issued a • Several decision requiring Saudi universities women to obtain national continue to identity cards and require a removing the formal guardian’s requirement for guardian signature before a woman can be approval in order to enrolled.124 117 apply.
• Many employers in the private The Supreme Judicial and public Council issued a circular sectors continue in February 2014 to require permitting women to guardian’s permission as a attend court hearings condition for a once they present their woman’s national identity cards, employment. removing the requirement Alternatively, to be identified in court by other employers may ask a two males.118 woman to present a family card, as an indirect means of ensuring a husband’s consent in the
117 Council of Ministers Orders with Respect to Requiring Saudi Women to Obtain a National Identity Card, Al-Riyadh Newspaper, March 26, 2013, http://www.alriyadh.com/820546 118 Human Rights Watch, Boxed In: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System, 2016, p. 62, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf 124 Information obtained from Saudi advocates, January 2018.
case of married woman.125
• It is reported that many medical facilities continue to require the signature of a male guardian before a woman can be admitted into or released from healthcare facilities, without penalty.126 Further, guardians can and often do demand that women be treated only by same-sex health professionals thus hampering women’s access to healthcare.127
125 Human Rights Watch, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System”, 2016, p. 71, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf
126 Hala Aldosari, The Effect of Gender Norms on Women’s Health in Saudi Arabia, May 2, 2017, p.6, http://www.agsiw.org/wp- content/uploads/2017/05/Aldosari_Womens-Health_Online-1.pdf . 127 Hala Aldosaria, The Effect of Gender Norms on Women’s Health in Saudi Arabia, May 2, 2017, pp.6-7, http://www.agsiw.org/wp- content/uploads/2017/05/Aldosari_Womens-Health_Online-1.pdf
• Applying for an identity card requires a woman to present either a passport – which she cannot obtain without a guardian’s permission – or be accompanied by a male guardian to confirm her identity. 128 Further, a married woman is required to present a family card to receive a national identity card which is issued to the husband with the exception of widowed or divorced
128 Information received from Saudi Advocates, February 2018; Procedures for Obtaining a National Identity Card for Women, Ministry of Interior, https://www.moi.gov.sa/wps/portal/Home/sectors/civilaffairs/contents/!ut/p/z0/04_Sj9CPykssy0xPLMnMz0vMAfIjo8ziDTxNTDwMTYy8LUwC3AwcA428nB2dPY3cf c31gxOL9L30o_ArApqSmVVYGOWoH5Wcn1eSWlGiH5GcWZaZo5CYlpaYWVSsaoDGLU4tKstMTi1WMNQvyHYPBwB0wHxz/
women.
• Some courts continue to require a woman to bring forth two males to identify her.129 As any two males may serve as “identifiers,” there exists a business for male identifiers who loiter around the courts offering this service to women, often in exchange for sums of money, typically SAR 200 (US$53).130
129 Human Rights Watch, Boxed In: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System, 2016, p. 62, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf; information received from Saudi advocates, February 2018 130 Information obtained from Saudi advocates, January 2018
Inheritance rights Generally, inheritance rights According to the Judicial procedure According to a between women and men state, there are requires the presence commentary, women are are unequal. Inheritance is some cases in which of the woman in often prevented from Are women and based on Shari’ah. In many a woman might division of inheritance obtaining their 134 men in the same instances, such as in the inherit more than a cases. inheritance because of cases of widows and man or have equal cultural norms and tribal degree of 135 relationship to a widowers and siblings, a share. Additionally, practices. woman is entitled to half the the unequal shares deceased entitled 131 to equal shares in share of a man. For are justified by the the estate and to instance, with respect to State on the ground equal rank in the daughter’s share, it is one that men are also 132 order of half of her brother’s share. required to provide for women’ financial succession? Are there procedures to maintenance which address any is not required for 133 inequalities in women. inheritance between women and men e.g. can a will be written, can beneficiaries agree to inherit equal shares of the estate or can the children
131 Esther van Eijk, “Sharia and National Law in Saudi Arabia”, in Sharia Incorporated: A Comparative Overview of the Legal Systems of Twelve Muslim Countries in Past and Present, ed. Jan Michiel Otto (Leiden, The Netherlands: Leiden University Press, 2010), p. 165, https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/13374/Women+and+Muslim+Family+Laws+in+Arab+States.pdf;jsessionid=520214776437CF24AE 15BA40C188C51F?sequence=1. 132 Saudi Arabia Reply to List of Issues, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/SAU/Q/3-4/Add.1 (2017), para 86, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/TreatyBodyExternal/Countries.aspx?CountryCode=SAU&Lang=EN.
133 Saudi Arabia Reply to List of Issues, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/SAU/Q/3-4/Add.1 (2017), para 149, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/TreatyBodyExternal/Countries.aspx?CountryCode=SAU&Lang=EN.
134 Saudi Arabia Reply to List of Issues, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/SAU/Q/3-4/Add.1 (2017), para 149, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/TreatyBodyExternal/Countries.aspx?CountryCode=SAU&Lang=EN 135 Samar Fatany, “An Inheritance of Injustice for Women”, Al Arabiya, 17 June 2013, http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/2013/06/17/An-inheritance-of- injustice-for-women.html
agree to forgo their inheritance in favour of their mother upon the death of their father?
Applicable CEDAW Provision
Paras. 34-35 GR21
Paras. 49-53 GR29
Violence against Law of Protection from The Government of According to the Ministry women in the Abuse criminalises a number Saudi Arabia has of Labour and Social family of acts of domestic violence. increasingly Development, in 2015, Article 1 of the Law defines recognised violence there were 8,016 abuse as physical, against women as a reported cases of Are there laws that psychological, or sexual public policy issue. physical and define what abuse.136 Several measures psychological abuse, constitute domestic have been most of which involve violence such as battery, female undertaken to violence between circumcision, Saudi Arabia has no Penal address this issue. spouses. In one major 138 marital rape and Code.137 This include: city alone, the Ministry other forms of recorded 961 cases of sexual assault and domestic violence in one violence that affect year, with most cases • Enactment of the a woman’s mental The Law of Protection from Law of Protection involving women and health which are Abuse does not specifically from Abuse. This children being denied perpetuated by
136 Article 1 of Law of Protection from Abuse (2013), https://goo.gl/xJBRdq 137 Human Rights Watch, “Saudi Arabia: Criminal Justice Strengthened”, HRW News, 14 January 2010, https://www.hrw.org/news/2010/01/14/saudi-arabia- criminal-justice-strengthened 138 Human Rights Watch, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System”, 2016, pp. 3, 31, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf; Majed al-Kasabi, “Center for Violence and Abused Reports Launched”, Saudi Gazette, 22 March 2016, http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-arabia/center-violence-abuse-reports-launched/; Sabria S. Jawhar, “Child Abuse: Stop Being Spectators & Call 1919”, Arab News, 2 December 2013, http://www.arabnews.com/news/486056
traditional criminalise marital rape. includes their basic rights to attitudes? Is there establishment of: education, health care, specific legislation or personal identification that recognises 139 documents. domestic violence • Establishment of a center as a crime? Is the husband allowed to specifically discipline his wife? tasked with According to information Can a suspected receiving and on the ground, in the perpetrator marry responding to past, women struggle to his alleged abused reports of family report incidence of victim to avoid violence and a domestic violence. punishment? Are corresponding However, today, with the hotline (1919); there support law and the services for women implementing measures, Building of more who are the victims • there has been some of aggression or shelters for improvements. Cases abuses? abused victims. that reach the media or
Applicable CEDAW social media tend to be Provision taken more seriously by GRs 12 & 19 the authorities. Nevertheless challenges Para. 40 GR21 remain.140 Based on media and civil society
reports, these challenges include:141
• Many in Saudi Arabia, including some social workers, believe that
139 Human Rights Watch, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System”, 2016, p. 30, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf 140 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017 141 Human Rights Watch, “Boxed in: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System”, 2016, pp. 26-27, 32, 34-35, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/saudiarabia0716web.pdf; Tahirih Justice Center, “Saudi Arabia”, Forced Marriage Overseas, http://preventforcedmarriage.org/forced-marriage-overseas-saudi-arabia/; Carlyle Murphy, “Saudi Women Still Assigned Male Guardians”, USA Today, 9 December 2014, http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/12/09/globalpost-saudi-arabia-male-guardians/20134065/
a guardian has the right to use physical violence to discipline women and children;
• Law enforcement has generally treated domestic violence situations as private, domestic matters with few legal consequences for the perpetrators. Courts are lenient in cases when abuse is perpetrated by a male against a female in the same household;
• Women running away from domestic violence are considered criminals. Leaving the marital home has been under the spotlight lately with women fleeing the Kingdom or escaping from their husbands while travelling;
• Trying to convince a judge that a guardian is abusive is a very lengthy and culturally difficult situation for a woman. A
woman must show specifically how she was harmed, and even then judges do not usually revoke guardianship unless the man is doing something wrong according to religious laws, such as drinking alcohol;
• The Law of Protection from Abuse and its implementing measures are steps in the right direction to address the issue of domestic violence. However, it has been critiqued to be too general.
Nationality rights A Saudi man may pass his Saudi Arabia has According to information nationality to his non-Saudi made a reservation on the ground, only sons wife provided she meets through which it whose mother is Saudi various conditions.142 The and father a non-Saudi Does a wife have does not consider Saudi Arabian Citizenship may apply for Saudi the right to confer itself bound by System does not specifically paragraph 2 of citizenship. Daughters her citizenship on provide for a Saudi woman born in such marriages Article 9 of CEDAW foreign husbands to confer her nationality to cannot be conferred and children? Can by which provides
142 Article 16 of the Saudi Arabian Citizenship System, https://www.moi.gov.sa/wps/wcm/connect/121c03004d4bb7c98e2cdfbed7ca8368/EN_saudi_nationality_system.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
the nationality of an her foreign husband. women equal rights Saudi nationality unless 151 adult woman be with men with they marry a Saudi. [ arbitrarily removed A Saudi woman risk losing respect to the because of her Saudi nationality if she nationality of their Many children of Saudi marriage or marries a non-Saudi and children.149 mothers and foreigner dissolution of adopts her husband's father are not granted nationality.143 citizenship even if their marriage or application meets all the because her While applying for required conditions, as husband or father nationality, the applicant the law permits and does changes his gets 3 points if his/her father Saudi Arabia stated not require this grant of nationality? is Saudi and 2 points if only that with regard to citizenship by the his/her mother is Saudi. 144A ensuring the Minister of Interior. 152 Saudi father passes his effective Applicable CEDAW citizenship to his children implementation of Saudi women are not wherever they are born. entitled to social security Provision Cabinet Decision However, a Saudi mother (November 2012) benefits, their children Article 9 may only pass her granting privileged from a foreign spouse citizenship to her children if are not entitled to state- 145 services and Para. 6 GR21 the father is unknown. facilities to the sponsored scholarships for higher education, and children of Saudi A child born in Saudi Arabia it is not possible for a women, the and whose mother is Saudi Saudi mother to and father a non-Saudi may concerned designate her foreign be granted Saudi citizenship authorities oversee son as her agent or through a decision of the its implementation representative. 153 Minister of Interior provided and monitor certain conditions are met compliance. Under If the Saudi mother dies, i.e. the child has reached 18 its Statute, the her children cannot and has a permanent Human Rights 146 inherit real estate resident permit. Commission follows property (they may sell it
143 Article 12 of the Saudi Arabian Citizenship System, https://www.moi.gov.sa/wps/wcm/connect/121c03004d4bb7c98e2cdfbed7ca8368/EN_saudi_nationality_system.pdf?MOD=AJPERES 144 Section 8 of the Implementing Regulation, Saudi Nationality Law: Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights and Equality Now, Joint submission to the CEDAW Committee Pre-Sessional Working Group for the 69th Session, 2017, pp. 2-3, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/SAU/INT_CEDAW_NGO_SAU_28018_E.pdf. 145 Article 7 of the Saudi Arabian Citizenship System, https://www.moi.gov.sa/wps/wcm/connect/121c03004d4bb7c98e2cdfbed7ca8368/EN_saudi_nationality_system.pdf?MOD=AJPERES 146 Article 8 of the Saudi Arabian Citizenship System, https://www.moi.gov.sa/wps/wcm/connect/121c03004d4bb7c98e2cdfbed7ca8368/EN_saudi_nationality_system.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
up the and receive its value), Pursuant to Cabinet implementation of and must then find Decision No. 152 of 25 this decision and another sponsor in order March 2013, female to remain in Saudi takes the necessary 154 international scholarship action. The Ministry Arabia. students married to non- of Labour and Social nationals are awarded the Development also same monthly allowance as monitors the private women married to Saudi men.147 sector to ensure the implementation of In 2012, the Saudi cabinet this decision. It does ordered special privileges for so through its non-citizen children of Saudi Inspection women, including ability to Department, which enter Saudi Arabia at the deals immediately invitation of their mothers, with any identified waiving of residency fees, failure and imposes permission to work in the the penalties private sector, and access to prescribed by law on education and healthcare on the employers the same basis as Saudi 150 citizens.148 responsible.
149 United Nations Treaty Collection, “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women”, https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=IV-8&chapter=4&lang=en.
151 Information obtained from Saudi advocate, January 2017 152 Information received from Saudi advocate, February 2018 153Marriage of Saudi Women to Foreigners: Increasing Proportions and a Price Paid by the Children, Sabq Electronic Newspaper, March 20, 2015, https://sabq.org/7muGHe; Information received from Saudi advocate, February 2018 147 Saudi Arabia National report, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/WG.6/17/SAU/1 (2013), para 56, https://documents-dds- ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G13/160/88/PDF/G1316088.pdf?OpenElement. 148 Human Rights Watch, Submission to the CEDAW Committee for the 69th Session, 2018, p.2, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/SAU/INT_CEDAW_NGO_SAU_30052_E.pdf.
150 Saudi Arabia Reply to List of Issues, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/SAU/Q/3-4/Add.1 (2017), para 62, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/TreatyBodyExternal/Countries.aspx?CountryCode=SAU&Lang=EN.
154 Information received from Saudi advocate, February 2018; 8 Obstacles Facing the Husband of a Saudi Woman, Okaz Newspaper, October 24, 2017, http://www.okaz.com.sa/article/1583285; Saudi Arabia Nationality Law, issued by Order No. 4 on 25/1/1374(Hijri), .pdf, article 8.ﺟﻧﺳﯾﺔhttp://www.mofa.gov.sa/aboutKingDom/SaudiGovernment/RegimesInKingdom/CivilStatusSystem/Documents/87757_2