New Bill to tackle Sharia Courts and dis...

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New Bill to tackle Sharia Courts and discrimination against Muslim women

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Published: Wednesday 08 June 2011

New Bill to tackle Sharia Courts and discrimination against Muslim women

Country: Europe, United Kingdom

Sharia Courts in England and Wales will be committing an offence punishable by a five-year prison sentence if they falsely claim or imply legal jurisdiction over criminal or family law, under a new Bill introduced in the House of Lords yesterday.

The Arbitration and Mediation Services (Equality) Bill, introduced by Baroness Caroline Cox, intends to tackle the discrimination suffered by Muslim women within the Sharia court system. The Bill, which applies to all arbitration tribunals, will firmly outlaw the practice of giving women’s testimony half the weight of men’s.

House of Lords Chamber
CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 by UK Parliament

The Bill’s proposals include:

A new criminal offence of ‘falsely claiming legal jurisdiction’ for any person who adjudicates upon matters which ought to be decided by criminal or family courts.
The maximum penalty would be five years in prison.
Explicitly stating in legislation that sex discrimination law applies directly to arbitration tribunal proceedings. Discriminatory rulings may be struck down under the Bill.
Requiring public bodies to inform women that they have fewer legal rights if their marriage is unrecognised by English law.
Explicitly stating on the face of legislation that arbitration tribunals may not deal with matters of family law (such as legally recognised divorce or custody of children) or criminal law (such as domestic violence).
Making it easier for a civil court to set aside a consent order if a mediation settlement agreement or other agreement was reached under duress.
Explicitly stating on the face of legislation that a victim of domestic abuse is a witness to an offence and therefore should be expressly protected from witness intimidation.

Lady Cox said:

Equality under the law is a core value of British justice. My Bill seeks to preserve that standard. I have no desire to interfere in the internal theological affairs of religious groups, and my Bill does not do that. My Bill seeks to stop parallel legal, or ‘quasi-legal’, systems taking root in our nation. Cases of criminal law and family law are matters reserved for our English courts alone.

Through these proposals, I want to make it perfectly clear in the law that discrimination against women shall not be allowed within arbitration. I am deeply concerned about the treatment of Muslim women by Sharia Courts. We must do all that we can to make sure they are free from any coercion, intimidation or unfairness.

There is considerable evidence that many women are suffering in many ways (such as domestic violence or unequal access to divorce) due to discriminatory practices in our country today and we cannot continue to condone this situation. Many women say, ‘we came to this country to escape these practices only to find the situation is worse here’.

Read a fact sheet about the Bill: Download

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The Bill in full - Arbitration and Mediation Services (Equality) Bill (HL Bill 72)

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