Under the Arbitration Act 1996 people in the UK can resort to arbitration in order to resolve some civil disputes. Several bodies are currently applying Sharia Law to cases involving divorce, forced marriage, domestic violence and family and inheritance disputes, claiming that they are allowed to do this under the provisions of the Arbitration Act.
IKWRO is very concerned at the application of Sharia Law in the UK, considering that Sharia discriminates against women in a range of ways. We have particular concerns about how some bodies treat women who have suffered violence. In 2010 for example the President of the Islamic Sharia Council stated that men who rape their wives should not be prosecuted because “sex is part of marriage”.
Sharia also restricts women’s access to divorce and some tribunals do not recognise the right of a woman who has been abused or forced into marriage to end the relationship. Sharia also includes rules on child custody which do not protect the welfare of children, and discriminates against women in other ways, for example by deeming their testimony to be worth half of a man’s and specifying that sons should inherit twice the share that daughters do.
We are working with parliamentarians, other women’s organisations and women who have been through the Sharia system to raise awareness of the ways in which Sharia tribunals in the UK are violating women’s rights. We want all bodies involved in religious arbitration to be brought under the remit of sex discrimination legislation and the Human Rights Act.
Read more about Sharia Law in the UK
