Dokument #1159441
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
According to information available to
External Affairs Canada, Saudi Arabian citizenship is passed down
through the father. [ External Affairs Canada, 18 September 1989.]
A definitive answer regarding the citizenship status of children
(of Saudi fathers) born abroad is not obtainable before Monday, as
the Saudi Consulate section is only open from 9:30 AM to 12 PM,
Monday through Thursday. Although the IRB Documentation Centre has
recently requested a translation of the Saudi Citizenship Act from
the Saudi Arabian Embassy, it has not yet arrived. Should more
information pertinent to your question become available on Monday,
it will be forwarded to the Toronto Documentation Centre.
8 March 1990
Saudi Arabia - Treatment of women in
general and situation of women who divorce, whether in Saudi Arabia
or overseas and then return to Saudi Arabia
From:
IRBDC, Ottawa
Keywords:
Saudi Arabia / gender groups / females /
marriage / divorce
Information on the particular case of women
who divorce their husbands overseas and then return to Saudi Arabia
could not be found among the sources currently available to the
IRBDC. The information on divorce found and attached to this
response does not appear to differentiate between cases of divorce
which took place within or outside the Saudi Arabian borders.
Please find attached a number of documents
which discuss the requested subjects. Some of these documents do
not include all the information available on the subject in the
particular publication, but may help to locate that or other
sources among your region's libraries. The article from the
Journal of the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs provides
a significant bibliography which may be useful, too. In addition to
the attached documents, the United States National Geographic
Society's magazine, National Geographic, in its October 1987
issue (pages 423-453), includes the article "Women of Saudi
Arabia". The magazine is not available at the IRBDC in Ottawa, but
should available at many public and university libraries of your
region.
According to Constitutions of the
Countries of the World: Saudi Arabia, (New York: Oceana
Publications, Inc., 1979), Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries
in the world that does not have a modern constitution, but regards
the Koran (also written as Quran) as its constitution and Sharia
law is enforced. According to Le Monde Arabe Au
Féminin, p. 42 (not attached), Saudi Arabia is one of
the Moslem countries where female "circumcision" is practised. For
a brief reference to discrimination based on sex, you may wish to
refer to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for
1988, (Washington: U.S. Department of State, 1989), section on
Saudi Arabia, available at your regional Documentation Centre.
Unfortunately, the publications corresponding Critique: Review
of the Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices for 1988, (Washington: Human Rights Watch, July
1989), does not contain an assessment of the Country
Reports' chapter on Saudi Arabia. For a more complete overview
of the situation of women in Saudi Arabia and references to divorce
in that country, please see the attached documents. These
include:
-Arab Women, (London: Minority Rights Group, 1983), p.
9;
-"The New Arab Woman: fact or feminist fantasy?", in The Middle
East, pp. 5-10;
-Le Monde Arabe Au Féminin, (Paris: Editions
L'Harmattan, 1988), pp. 7-15, 76-81;
-Femmes d'Islam ou le sexe interdit, (Paris: Denoël,
1980), pp. 36-37, 61-69;
-Women in Muslim Family Law, (Syracuse: Syracuse University
Press, 1982), pp. 28-39;
-"Current Status of Literature on Muslim Women: A Case Study", in
Journal (Institute of Muslim Minority Rights), January 1989,
pp. 171-198.