While emphasizing that the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act
(MMDA) violates the rights of Muslim women, Muslim Personal Law (MPL)
Reforms Action Group has appealed to the leaders of Sri Lanka and those
formulating the new Constitution to uphold a clear vision of equality
for all citizens.
“Do
not deny Sri Lankan Muslim women and girls from fully enjoying their
fundamental rights as full citizens of this country. Ensure that the new
Constitution is in-fact the heart and soul of a progressive nation that
refuses to exclude any citizen,” the group which consists of human
rights advocates, lawyers, affected women, as well as community and
women’s rights groups said in a statement.
According to the group in 2014, a 14-year old Muslim girl in the
Eastern province was given in marriage and her schooling was stopped as a
result. After a few months of marriage she applied for fasah divorce
(initiated by wife) at the Quazi courts, due to severe sexual torture by
her husband. The Quazi judge instead of dealing with the case in a
sensitive and appropriate manner chose to interrogate her for over two
hours asking her specific details about the sexual violence. This in
turn caused the girl serious psychological trauma that she attempted
suicide and faced severe depression thereafter.
“This case is one of many in which Muslim women and girls are not
only affected directly by discriminatory provisions within the 1951
Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA), but also as a result of the
sub-par Quazi court system set up under the Act, which has untrained and
many unqualified Quazi judges,” the statement said.
“There are major concerns that the MMDA violates the rights of Muslim
women and limits access to justice, due process and redress. These
concerns are with regard to provisions within the Act itself as well as
practical problems with procedures and implementation via the Quazi
court. Some examples below:
● The Act legally allows child marriage by not stipulating the
minimum age of marriage for Muslims as 18 years (under the Act a Quazi
judge can even permit the marriage of a child under the age of 12);
● There is no requirement of mandatory and written consent from the bride therefore forced marriages are technically legal;
● There are different conditions of divorce for men and women:
o Only husbands are granted the right to unilateral divorce without reason;
o Process of divorce for wives lengthy, requiring reasons and evidence, witnesses and case hearings;
● The provision for wife and child maintenance is decided arbitrarily by Quazis;
● Under the Act qualified women are not allowed to be marriage registrars, Quazi judges, jurors or Board of Quazi members. These are state-salaried and tax-funded position that legally discriminate against women simply on the basis of sex;
● There is no mandatory requirement of qualifications or mandatory training for Quazis on MMDA;
● The Act allows the practice of polygamy without requirement of consent from the wife/s or wife to be (and often without their knowledge) or without conditions of financial stability,” the statement said.
Justice Saleem Marsoof |
During the consultations conducted by the Public Representations
Committee (PRC) on Constitutional Reforms around the country, many
women’s groups and women affected by discriminatory provisions under the
MMDA and practices of the Quazi courts brought up concerns regarding
the Act. Their submissions were with regard to the fact that the current
Constitution grants an exemption for personal laws to violate
fundamental rights though the existence of Article 16(1).
“On August 24th 2016, a group of fifteen Muslim women made an appeal
to Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe and the rest of the sub-committee
drafting the Fundamental Rights Chapter of the new constitution. The
appeal was simple – that Article 16(1) is repealed to ensure that the
new Constitution is the supreme law of the land and that fundamental
rights and gender equality is ensured for all citizens regardless of
religion or ethnicity. They avered to the State’s responsibility to
protect the fundamental rights of all its people irrespective of age,
gender, ethnicity, religion or any other identity markers,” the
statement said.
However, the group noted that certain conservative groups among the
Muslim community – while acknowledging that there were major problems
with the MMDA and its implementation – claimed that repeal of Article
16(1) is not necessary because the Muslim community will reform its own
personal law “from within”, in order to address concerns of women and
girls.
Therefore, the group said that it is important for the community in
general and Muslim women in particular to know the outcome of the
committee’s deliberations and as to how it compares with the protection
and equality that Muslim women and children can avail of by calling for
repeal of Article 16(1) in the new Constitution.
“We appeal to the members of the MPL Reforms Committee, Minister of
Justice and Judicial Service Commission to inform the Sri Lankan Muslim
community as to when the report is expected to be finalized. Also given
its relevance to the constitutional reform discussion outlined above, we
kindly request that they immediately share the salient outcomes of the
reform discussions to date pending the release of the final report. As
the group that had been most intimately involved in this issue over the
past seven years their informed intervention at this juncture will be
invaluable. Of particular interest will be to see how the
recommendations address discriminatory provisions currently in place
that violate fundamental rights of Muslim citizens,” the statement said. (Colombo Telegraph)
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