A/HRC/25/58/Add.2 V. Issues of personal status 28. Legal questions concerning marriage contracts and family matters such as divorce, custody of children and inheritance, which are usually summarized under the heading of “personal status”, are generally left to sharia courts and to the religious tribunals of recognized communities. With regard to the broad majority of Muslims living in the country, sharia courts take care of their personal status issues. As previously mentioned, recognized Christian communities have their own independent ecclesiastical tribunals, which operate on the basis of their version of canon law. Cases that involve both Muslims and non-Muslims can go to sharia courts, provided that all parties involved agree. Alternatively, such cases will be dealt with in civil courts. 29. Within this pluralistic legal system, individuals who do not fit into the pattern of recognized religious communities face a problem if they wish to regulate their personal status affairs in a predictable, fair and non-discriminatory manner. With increasing degrees of gravity, this affects members of non-recognized Christian denominations, the Baha’is and converts from Islam to Christianity or another religion. Another set of problems originates from the treatment of interreligious marriages in the system of personal status laws. Where the husband is Muslim, sharia law applies. Marriages between a Muslim woman and a non-Muslim man are not permitted, with the consequence that the man must convert to Islam in order to contract a valid marriage under sharia law. The existing system of personal status law, while accommodating legal pluralism, reflects a clear inequality between men and women, as well as an inequality between members of different religions. 30. As previously mentioned, members of non-recognized Christian denominations have to manage their personal status issues by appealing to the “hospitality” of another Christian denomination or by resorting to civil courts; for instance, members of the Baptist Church would most likely bring their issues before an Anglican tribunal. In discussions with members of non-recognized Christian denominations, the Special Rapporteur learned that, although the situation leads to complications and extra burdens, their issues can usually be resolved in practice. Nonetheless, the members of non-recognized Christian denominations with whom he spoke complained of discriminatory treatment. They felt that they lived at the mercy of other denomination or, alternatively, had to resort to civil courts that apply laws inspired by Islamic norms. 31. The situation for the Baha’is is much more complicated. Seeing themselves as a post-Islamic religious community, the Baha’is are not recognized as a distinct religion. On their identity cards or on other official documents, they are either identified as Muslims or as not having any religion. Both options clearly go against their self-perception. Moreover, non-recognition of Baha’is leads to a number of problems concerning the validity of marriage contracts and the legal status of children born in such circumstances. In some situations, this has led to treating such children as being born out of wedlock from the perspective of Jordanian laws. When presenting these issues and cases, the Baha’is expressed their appreciation for the spirit of cooperation that they had generally encountered in the Civil Affairs Department of the Ministry of the Interior. In most cases, pragmatic solutions could be found on the basis of goodwill. This does not, however, alter the fact that the situation of their legal status remains precarious and clearly discriminatory. Problems resulting from this state of affairs concern the right to freedom of religion or belief in conjunction with equality of men and women, and possibly also children’s rights. 32. Even more complicated is the legal situation of converts from Islam to Christianity. This also includes re-converts who, after having converted from Christianity to Islam, later wish to convert back to their original religion. Although the Special Rapporteur could not find any precise data, it seems that the number of reconversions is higher than the number of conversions from Islam. In general, conversions do not take place on a large scale. 10