UN panel urges UAE to give women equal rights in divorce

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The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has urged Abu Dhabi to allow men and women to have similar rights in matters of nationality, marriage and divorce.

UN experts on Monday urged the United Arab Emirates to grant women the same nationality rights as men and called for equal gender rights in marriage and divorce.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has raised concerns following a fourth periodic review of the United Arab Emirates.

CEDAW is a body of 23 independent experts that monitors the implementation of the treaty to end discrimination against women.

“The committee expressed concern about many provisions of the Personal Status Law that discriminate against women and girls, in particular the continued de jure male guardianship, the persistence of polygamy and the limited grounds for divorce available to women,” he said.

“It recommended that the State party undertake a comprehensive legislative review to grant women equal rights in marriage, family relations, divorce and with regard to the ownership and custody of children.”

Experts were also concerned that women in the United Arab Emirates did not have the same right as men to pass on their nationality to their children.

They urged the country to grant Emirati women “equal rights to acquire, change and retain their nationality and to confer it on their children and foreign spouses”.

Committee member Lia Nadaraia told reporters in Geneva that the UAE had made “great progress” since 2015 and the last periodic review and hoped the body’s recommendations would be accepted this time as well.

She also said the UAE was “very competent and very prepared” when considering the issues.

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