New Iraq 'strict' on women

2005-07-20 14:37

Washington - A draft of Iraq's new constitution would greatly curtail women's rights, imposing the Sharia law in personal matters like marriage, divorce and inheritance, as well as their representation in parliament, The New York Times said on Wednesday.

A draft of a chapter of the new constitution, obtained by the daily, would guarantee legal rights for women, as long as they do not "violate Sharia," meaning that Shiite women could not marry without their family's permission and that husbands could divorce them simply by saying so out loud three times.

The draft would also drop or phase out a measure included in the interim constitution co-written last year with United States experts, requiring that women make up at least 25% of the parliament.

A draft constitution should be put up for approval by Iraq's National Assembly by August 15, and submitted to a national referendum on October 15, with national elections to choose a fully mandated government slated for December 15.

Changes can still be made

US and Iraqi officials said changes can still be made to the draft copies of the constitution before the August 15 deadline, but it has already caused unrest among Iraqi women, 200 of whom demonstrated on Tuesday in downtown Baghdad, according to the daily.

The draft constitution, if adopted, would shift away from the more secular and egalitarian provisions of the interim constitution - in which explicit references to religious law were banned.

It would mark a major victory for Shiite clerics and religious politicians who chafed at US insistence that Islam be designated in the interim constitution as one of several sources of legislation, said The New York Times.

Several writers of the new constitution, added the daily, said they intend, at the very least, to designate Islam as "a main source" of legislation.

A Westerner familiar with the draft told the daily it was not as severe as it could have been.

"Compared to what some of the conservative Shiites were pushing, the glass is half full," he said.

- AFP