Hala Al-Qahtani
Alsharq
Saudi women still face a lot of obstacles in the corridors of justice, which intensifies their suffering. The hardships and miseries of women in courts could be best understood by a woman who has gone through the experience.
The moment she steps into a court, a woman faces a lot of problems, which include the harsh behavior of judges and lukewarm response from court officials.
Instead of finding solutions for her problems, a woman often meets with obstacles that stand in the way of protecting her rights. No one seems to be bothered about her special mental state. She has to make the choice of either jumping over the hurdles or to shed tears lamenting her plight.
The justice minister, who is the chairman of the Supreme Judiciary Council, had set up a committee to study the obstacles facing women in courts. As a result, a report was submitted proposing exclusive entrances, sitting rooms and elevators for women in court buildings. The report did not mention any of the serious issues faced by women litigants.
That report covered only 1 percent of their sufferings. I would like to propose that the minister set up another committee comprising female lawyers and legal experts to bring to light the real situation of women litigants.
Let me mention here some of the obstacles. Women have been facing injustice at courts while chasing their cases related to divorce, domestic violence, child custody and support, alimony and inheritance. They have to wait so long to reach a settlement in their cases and in the meantime some of them will lose their patience and give up their legal battle with a feeling that they would never get justice.
Women are forced to keep quiet on verdicts issued by judges and they accept them without appeal fearing more protracted court sessions.
Honorable minister of justice, women are seeking judges who can quickly resolve their cases without taking more than a month to set a hearing. Many of women plaintiffs face problems when the defendants fail to attend court hearings, but the judges do not take any measures to forcibly produce such people in courts except after several sessions.
A woman goes to court after all other options are exhausted. Any delay in court proceedings will not only increase her suffering but also increase the injustice being committed against her.
Honorable minister, you still remember the case of a woman teacher who took 14 years to get a divorce from her husband. Another woman who approached court to get custody of her children had to wait five years to win her right. You also might have heard the story of a woman who attended 400 court sessions over 13-year period to get the right of ownership of her land and house.
Women also demand that the ministry approve a document on alimony and child support, which are often rejected by courts. The document should specify all expenses before fixing the amount and also take into account inflation and price rise. It should clearly mention the compensation for breastfeeding, education and other expenses of each child, house rent, health care, recreation, costs of buying summer and winter clothes, in addition to expenses during festivals such as Eid.
The court should also take the initiative to get necessary documents for a woman to issue her child’s civil ID card and passport. Women should be given the right to provide travel clearance for their children.
Women also need a legal text that would ensure her personal presence at times of divorce, as the presence of husband alone would not be enough as the wife is a main party in the marriage contract.
Women are often denied her rights to get compensation for damages caused by her husband during family violence. The ministry should review the performance of reconciliation committees as its members need special training and qualifications to deal with people and perform the task professionally. They should stop issuing unreasonable and disappointing decisions, and should not force women to relinquish their rights, instead of preserving them.
Mr. minister, the women also suffer from misbehavior and harshness of some judges and notaries public and they would not complain fearing it would harm her interests. So an electronic gate should be introduced to receive complaints and there should be a mechanism to assess the performance of judges and other judicial officials and their dealings with the public.
Before concluding let me ask: Isn’t it a teaching of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, that we should exchange greetings and isn’t it true that the Prophet used to smile while meeting people. Then why don’t our judges return the greetings of women and frown at them during meetings? Why don’t they follow the tradition of the Prophet?
