UN Committee Calls on UAE To Give Women Equal Rights in Marriage, Divorce

A committee of the United Nations has called on the United Arab Emirates to give Emirati women equal rights in marriage and divorce and equal nationality rights. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women said on Monday that numerous provisions of the UAE’s personal status law that discriminate against women, including requiring male guardianship, allowing polygamy and limited grounds for divorce available to women, The New Arab reported. The committee is made up of 23 independent experts, who are charged with monitoring the implementation of the international treaty on ending discrimination against women. The committee made its concern public after a review of the UAE, its fourth review since the UAE joined the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in 2004. The committee recommended that the UAE undertake a comprehensive legislative review to provide women with equal rights in marriage, family relations, divorce and with regard to property and custody of children. It also encouraged the UAE to grant Emirati women “equal rights to acquire, change and retain their nationality and to confer it on their children and foreign spouses.”