Law reform

China: Legislation Focuses on Rural Women's Marrying Rights

"Women who have married men of other provinces enjoy equal rights as a villager in their hometown as long as they continue abiding by the obligations of the village's collective economy."

Egypt: New Lawsuit Challenges Mandatory Premarital Testing

Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights - Right to Privacy Program - Press Release - 12 October 2008

Iran: Women successfully lobby government to reform family law

The Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) international solidarity network welcomes the news that Iranian lawmakers have amended a contentious new family law proposal, marking a major victory for Iranian women’s rights activists.

Kurdistan: Polygamy: a violation of women's rights

Op-Ed: "Social ills are being created by the practice of multiple marriages."

Saudi Arabia: Saudi Human Rights Commission Seeks End to Child Marriages

The Saudi Human Rights Commission (HRC) has called on government agencies to take necessary steps to end the practice of child marriages by adopting a clear and unambiguous position on such weddings.

Netherlands: Polygamous marriages illegal but still recognised

Although polygamy is banned in the Netherlands, the marriages of Muslims who have several wives are recognised by Dutch authorities.

Malaysia: Statement from Sisters in Islam

SIS statement against the disruption of Bar Council Forum on "Conversion to Islam : Article 121 (1A) of the Federal Constitution: Subashini and Shamala Revisited" held on 9 August 2008.

UPDATE: Nigeria: Local women's groups protest bill on 'indecent clothing'

The following is an update provided by BAOBAB - For Women's Human Rights, a women's rights organization based in Nigeria. This is a brief report on the Public Hearing held in July 2008 regarding a proposed bill which, if made into law, would regulate styles of clothing on the grounds this would curb sexual intimidation and other sexual offences. The women who conducted research, presented their findings and demands, spoke out at the public hearing and aired their concerns with the world are to be commended for their actions and commitment to fighting discriminatory laws.

Mali: Renewed Call for a Law Against Female Genital Mutilation

"Female genital mutilation (FGM) is practiced in all parts of Mali with a prevalence rate of 92% according to the country’s third Demographic and Health Survey of 2001."

Canada: Polygamous communities persist on grounds of 'religious freedom'

The polygamous communities of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) - a branch of Mormonism - have openly practiced forced and underage marriages, incest, and abuse for decades. Under the clause of 'religious freedoms', however, this practice has been permitted to continue in the Canadian province of British Columbia and lengthy court cases have been further delayed by repeated appointments of special investigators.