Afghanistan's government has revised a marriage law that sparked an international outcry over sections that appeared to legalise marital rape, Justice Ministry officials said Thursday. Women's rights activists welcomed the changes, which must still be approved by parliament, but many said while the government had deleted the worst violations, it has not done enough to guarantee women's rights.
President Hamid Karzai signed the original law in March but quickly suspended enforcement after governments around the world condemned the legislation. Though the law would only apply to Afghanistan's Shia minority, many saw it as a return to Taliban-style oppression of women from a government that was supposed to be installing democracy and human rights.
The draft revision comes at the end of a three-month Justice Ministry review ordered by Karzai. The new legislation will need to be debated in parliament before it is signed into law, Justice Ministry spokesman Mohammad Reza Howeida said. Two of the most controversial articles have been drastically changed, according to documents supplied by the ministry. An article that previously said a woman must be ready to have sex with her husband every four days now says only that a woman is required to do any housework that the couple agreed to at the time of marriage. The revised article makes no attempt to regulate sexual relations between husband and wife.
A section that had said a woman needs to ask her husband's permission to leave the house has also been deleted. In its place, an article states that a woman is the ``owner of her property and can use her property without the permission of her husband.' It is unclear how long it will take parliament to take up the draft. The legislature is in recess and will not convene again for nearly two weeks. Presidential spokesman Humayun Hamidzada said Afghanistan's influential clerics council and civil society leaders will also have to sign off on the revised law.
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