E/CN.4/2003/66/Add.1 page 21 deference as the head of the family, and to respect the husband’s relatives and close friends, while they themselves are not entitled to any respect and no legislation will protect them from domestic violence. What is more, the father has sole custody over minor children. 114. The Family Code also makes it burdensome for Algerian women to secure a divorce, whereas men can do so easily. The fact that nearly half of all magistrates are women does not seem to have the beneficial effect than one might hope. On the contrary, conservatism is still said to be de rigueur, and the decisions handed down very often go against women. Besides, the result of the stipulation in article 52 of the Code that, in the event of divorce, the family home goes to the husband is that many women and their children find themselves in the street in circumstances incompatible with human rights. 115. As far as inheritance is concerned, a widowed mother is entitled to only one eighth of her husband’s estate, whereas a widower is entitled to one quarter (arts. 145 and 146). A male heir receives double the legacy of a female heir. It is also reported that foreign non-Muslim women married to Muslim Algerian men cannot inherit from their husbands. 116. It was observed that the Family Code has always provoked discussion within Algerian society and continues to do so, thanks in part to the women’s associations which have always militated against laws designed to restrict their rights. 117. Most of the governmental representatives interviewed admitted that the Family Code was a problem and that the status of women in Algeria had to change. The Minister of the Family and the Status of Women considers that the ideas the Code articulates give a pejorative and distorted impression of Shariah law, and the Code is an offence to the family. President Bouteflika himself is said to have stated on two occasions, while commemorating International Women’s Day, that the Code had to be amended. 118. Although equality between men and women is at the heart of the issue of how to build a democracy, many non-governmental informants have always voiced grave doubts as to the willingness of the Algerian authorities to embark on any such reform, since the question is always being put on the back burner and regarded as a minor issue. Some consider it such a source of holier-than-thou attitudes and passion, particularly on the part of the Islamists, that it could destabilize the Government. 119. The tendency among political parties, as among several non-governmental representatives interviewed, seems still to be to tread cautiously or make no move, on the grounds of cultural inertia, the impossibility of passing reforms that go against the deep-seated beliefs of the Algerian people, and the need to preserve the family group and avoid creating divisions. 120. Still, non-governmental sources pointed out that the claim that society would not be able to tolerate such change indicated that part of the elite was out of touch with the Algerian people. Similarly, some non-governmental informants complained that Algerian society was being made to take the blame when in fact the State alone was responsible for having promulgated and kept in force a Code that continued to satisfy the Islamists’ demands.