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Jordan: First amendment of Christian personal status law and a new call for gender equality
4-4-2019
Christian communities in Jordan embarked on drastic changes to the personal status law to address loopholes that are in conflict with the interests of the family. This step is considered the first since the promulgation of the first Christian personal status law in the Byzantine era, according to the local Ammon news agency yesterday. The adjustments that are being deliberated by specialized committees of lawyers, jurists and priests, will reportedly review issues related to inheritance, child custody, alimony and age of marriage. There is a tendency towards establishing equality in inheritance between men and women, as well as the inheritance of the daughters and wife in the absence of the son. On the subject, Jordanian Greek Orthodox Bishop Christophores Atallah, explained that the Greek Orthodox Church has formed a legal commission to modernize and update Church laws, including the personal status law especially in relation to marriage. He revealed that the amendments will be ratified in the Synod within two months. Atallah said the current bills are outdated and are no longer compatible or applied, noting that the aim is to achieve a modern personal status law commensurate with challenges facing the Christian family nowadays. In a related vein, Human Rights Watch called on the Jordanian Legislature, which will discuss amendments to the above law, to ban child marriage and approve full gender equality in marriage, divorce and inheritance. The organization stressed that Jordan should seize the opportunity to prevent marriage of minors and observe, without exception, the minimum age of marriage at 18. (Al Diyar, April 4, 2019 )
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