Dokument #1228025
HRW – Human Rights Watch (Autor)
without allowing for divorce and economic protection,” said Nina Goswami, senior deputy director at Aio-o-Shalish Kendra, a Bangladeshi human rights organization. “It is time our lawmakers changed these colonial-era laws and protected Hindu women.”
Christian Personal Law
In Christian personal law, divorce is allowed on limited grounds for both men and women, but the grounds are far more restrictive for women. Men can divorce if they allege their wife committed adultery. Wives, on the other hand, must prove adultery plus other acts to secure a divorce. Such acts include: conversion to another religion, bigamy, rape, sodomy, bestiality, desertion for two years, or cruelty. Charges of adultery are particularly humiliating for women in Bangladesh’s conservative society.
Joya J., a Christian, did housework in the home she and her husband shared with her in-laws from 5:30 a.m. every day. If she took a break even to play with her young daughter, her mother-in-law would get angry, she told Human Rights Watch. She escaped from her marital home several times because she could not bear the abuse by her mother-in-law and husband, seeking refuge with a church and with her parents. Church officials and her parents pressured her to return to her husband. With no money to support herself, Joya turned to a friend for shelter, where she had to sleep on a verandah and a bathroom because her friend’s husband begrudged the help. Her husband’s family spread rumors that she had run away with a man.
“Couples often trade false allegations of adultery, desperate to get a divorce. But these are especially damaging for women,” said Dr. Faustina Pereira, director of BRAC-Human Rights and Legal Aid Services. “There is broad consensus from all quarters for change and nothing should hold the government back from reforming Christian laws.”
Women’s Contributions Go Unrecognized in Law
A glaring gap in all the personal laws mentioned above is the absence of the equal right to marital property upon divorce, which means the extensive contributions that women make to their marital homes are ignored. This gap has been partially filled by the landmark 2010 law against domestic violence, which gives women a right to reside in the matrimonial home. The domestic violence law represents a vital step forward, but does not fully address the equal right to marital property.
Married couples in Bangladesh can take steps to jointly own property, such as by putting title to land or houses in both spouses’ names, even without any legal presumption that property and assets acquired during marriage are co-owned. But this is rarely the case: a 2006 World Bank surveyfound that less than 10 percent of women surveyed had their names on any marital property documentation (rented or owned).
“Married women’s burden of house work and contributions to their family businesses, fields, homes, husband’s careers go unrecognized in our laws,” said Ayesha Khanam, president of the Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, a Bangladeshi human rights organization. “While the government should do a lot more to give women an equal right to marital property, it should forge ahead with implementing the limited economic rights in the law against domestic violence.”
Family Courts’ “Obstacle Course,” Social Assistance Failings
Bangladesh has taken the important step of establishing specialized family courts that deal with separation, divorce, and maintenance cases. But women and lawyers told Human Rights Watch that seeking timely maintenance in these courts is akin to an obstacle course. They described delays at every stage, non-execution of maintenance awards, and evidentiary challenges. Some women face harassing counter-suits by husbands.
Women whose husbands are too poor to pay or who have no marital assets need to be connected to social assistance programs and shelters, Human Rights Watch said. Bangladesh does have some social assistance schemes that could benefit women impoverished by separation or divorce, including one offering 300 takas (US$4) per month for “husband-deserted” women who meet need criteria. But among the many women interviewed by Human Rights Watch who could have qualified for this program, none had accessed it. Human Rights Watch also found that the social assistance programs do not address women’s multiple vulnerabilities such as disability, ill-health, old age, and marital breakdown.
“Granting equal right to marital property will still leave many poor women out,” said Khushi Kabir, coordinator of Nijera Kori, a local nongovernmental organization. “The Bangladesh government should urgently connect poor women to social assistance and develop information booths in different parts of the country and inside family court complexes.”
By maintaining discriminatory personal laws and failing to ensure access to judicial remedies and social assistance, Bangladesh is in violation of its obligations under international human rights law. United Nations expert bodies have called for Bangladesh to reform its discriminatory divorce laws, and ensure that women have an equal right to marital property.
Key Recommendations
The Bangladesh government should take the following key measures:
“For decades Bangladesh has ignored how discriminatory personal laws impoverish women,” said Kashyap. “By immediately heeding calls for personal law reform by its own women’s rights advocates Bangladesh will demonstrate its commitment to women’s equality and poverty eradication.”
“Will I Get My Dues … Before I Die?”; Harm to Women from Bangladesh’s Discriminatory Laws on Marriage, Separation, and Divorce (Appell oder Pressemitteilung, Deutsch)
“Will I Get My Dues … Before I Die?”; Harm to Women from Bangladesh’s Discriminatory Laws on Marriage, Separation, and Divorce (Appell oder Pressemitteilung, Französisch)
“Will I Get My Dues … Before I Die?”; Harm to Women from Bangladesh’s Discriminatory Laws on Marriage, Separation, and Divorce (Spezieller Bericht oder Analyse, Englisch)