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Women lose rights given since 1959 in new constitution { July 26 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://news.ft.com/cms/s/eda83f4e-fd71-11d9-b224-00000e2511c8.html Women's activists fear the striking down of Iraq's 1959 personal status law, which allowed women to leave their husbands without negating their claims for custody of children. The 1959 law was strengthened even under the former Ba'ath regime, women's activists say. http://news.ft.com/cms/s/eda83f4e-fd71-11d9-b224-00000e2511c8.html Constitution may reduce women's rights, Iraqi campaigners say By Neil MacDonald and Dhiya Rasan Published: July 26 2005 03:00 | Last updated: July 26 2005 03:00 As constitutional committee members struggle to agree on rules for governing the Iraqi state, women's groups say they cannot endorse a draft that gives excessive weight to Islamic legal traditions. At stake are long-standing laws that give women approximate equality to men in marriage and inheritance, as well as quota system that guarantees female representation in parliament. "After talking with constitutional committee members and viewing some of their partial drafts, we realised that the constitution focuses on differences between men and women," lawyer Tamim Jalil al-Azawi said at a meeting of women's groups on Sunday. "That is the opposite of what we're seeking." Committee chairman Humam Hamoudi, a Shia cleric, has insisted that partial drafts should not be heeded while negotiations are still in progress. But he suggested that the committee's Shia, Sunni and Kurdish factions had reached agreement on the parts of the constitution that dealt with women's rights. At the behest of the Shia-dominated majority bloc in parliament, committee drafters have reportedly decided to revive "order 137", a decision by the former US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council that would allow unregistered marriages, so a man could take a second wife without seeking his first wife's consent. US officials blocked the decision and women's rights came to be protected under Transitional Administrative Law, Iraq's US-drafted provisional constitution. Women's activists fear the striking down of Iraq's 1959 personal status law, which allowed women to leave their husbands without negating their claims for custody of children. The 1959 law was strengthened even under the former Ba'ath regime, women's activists say. "It's a very good law, one of the best laws of its time by comparison with neighbouring countries," Ms Azawi said. The drafting committee has also apparently declined to renew the TAL's guarantee of 25 per cent female representation in parliament. Some women's groups say the minimum should be raised to 40 per cent. "Without a law, nothing can force political parties to accept women's participation in the National Assembly in the future," warned Intisar Mohamed Ali, a conference organiser for the Iraqi Women's League. In fact, the TAL lays down the quota for only two electoral cycles. Committee officials say they have no intention of changing it for the next parliamentary elections, scheduled for December.

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