The Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering (LWDG) held a press conference yesterday about the incident during which security forces snatched a boy from his mother in implementation of a ruling issued by the Sunni Sharia Court (https://bit.ly/2txdLM7), as well as, the many violations that accompanied many similar rulings. LWDG press conference concluded that as long as the spiritual and religious personal status commandments are untouchable, women will remain vulnerable second class citizens and violence against them will continue. It was agreed that repeated incidents of similar nature determines the need to adopt a unified personal status law that safeguards the right of children, first victims of parental disputes.
In the course of the press conference, violations that accompanied the case were detailed. Like for example, the mother was not formally notified of the court’s ruling that the child should be handed over to his father or she will be jailed; the son refused to accompany his father after the court ruled to drop the custody with the testimony of the mother; the judicial verdict to drop the mother’s right in the custody of her own child is contrary to Article 15 which drops the mother’s right in the custody of her son until the age of 12. On the subject, the Lebanese Union for Child Welfare and the Family Rights Network explained that the method used in the execution of the court ruling contravened the provisions of the Convention for the Protection of the Rights of the Child ratified by Lebanon without reservations, in reference to the use of asecurity forces to implement the ruling and terrorize the little boy. According to Al Akhbar newspaper, the mother has appealed the decision by the court, but the latter reversed her request and executed the ruling to drop the child’s custody. (Al Akhbar, June 27, 2018)