International Women's Day may have passed quietly for most people, but all Lebanese - men and women - may soon have reason to celebrate if MP Ghinwa Jalloul's proposal to extend the citizenship rights to women succeeds.
This 62-page report documents serious human rights abuses stemming from discriminatory family laws that have resulted in a divorce system that affords separate and unequal treatment to men and women.
During the past 10 years, there have been attempts to amend laws related to the rights of women in order to enhance their status and social and economic role, and protect them from violations and violence, including what are known as "honor crimes."
Four bills directly relating to women were introduced in the National Assembly. The most important of these was the one moved by the PPP (Parliamentarians) simply titled the Hudood Laws (Repeal) Bill 2005.
The Supreme Court’s directive for compulsory registration of marriages will be nothing short of a revolution. Whether it will lead to a corresponding social revolution in the protection of rights, especially of women and children, remains to be seen.
India's Supreme Court has given the federal and state governments three months to enact legislation making it compulsory to register all marriages. The court said the public's views would be invited on the new legislation.
