Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 48

Paragraph
Document type
Special Procedures' report
Paragraph text
Several States have no secular family code and regulate personal status either by integrating religious laws on the family into constitutional or legislative provisions or by granting religious authorities or religious tribunals jurisdiction over personal status so that they may apply the family codes derived from the sacred texts. Currently, a large number of States that have Islam as their State religion, such as the Islamic and Arab republics, regulate the personal status of all citizens by applying Islamic law from the Koran and the Sunna. Although the notion of the equality of men and women before the law is often incorporated in their constitutions, some States maintain that this equality does not apply in the case of laws on the family and on marital or personal status. Some States that recognize the legal competence of a majority religion in the State also grant non-majority religions jurisdiction over their own communities of faithful, such as Lebanon (Muslim majority), India (Hindu majority) and Israel (Jewish majority).
Legal status
Non-negotiated soft law
Body
Special Procedures: Working Group on discrimination against women and girls
Means of adoption
N.A.
Topic(s)
  • Equality & Inclusion
  • Governance & Rule of Law
  • Social & Cultural Rights
Person(s) affected
  • Families
  • Men
  • Women
Year
2015
Paragraph type
Other
Reference
WG Discrimination Against Women, Report to the HRC (2015), A/HRC/29/40, para. 48.
Paragraph number
48