E/CN.4/2002/73/Add.2 page 70 151 See article 6 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. See also report of CEDAW (A/55/38 (Part I), para. 62). 152 See, inter alia, surah 2, verse 228 in fine: “Women have similar rights and duties in marriage”. See, in the same vein, surah 4, verse 35, which provides for a procedure of reconciliation between spouses in the event of discord, thus proving that a husband does not have absolute and discretionary authority over his wife. See also reservations to the Women’s Convention, such as those of Egypt and Morocco (paragraph 61 (c) and note 55 above). 153 See, inter alia, surah 2, verses 228 and 229. 154 See Abu-Sahlieh (note 144 above), p. 694. See also paragraph 61 (c) and note 55 above. 155 See report of CEDAW (A/54/38/Rev.1, p. 66, paras. 221 to 223). 156 Ibid., consideration of the report of Algeria (p. 15, para. 91). See also the example of Pakistan, where it is reportedly difficult to obtain a divorce in the Christian community (except in cases of adultery), in contrast to the more liberal grounds for divorce that apparently exist for the Muslim majority community. See Farida Shaheed, “Constructing identities: culture, women’s agency and the Muslim world”, International Social Science Journal, vol. 51, No. 159, March 1999, p. 69. 157 See Human Rights Committee, general comment 28, para. 26. See also Report of the Human Rights Committee, Morocco (A/55/40, vol. I, para. 98). 158 See Newland, op. cit. (note 101 above), pp. 162 and 163. 159 See the example of the Hindu minority in Bangladesh, report of the Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance (A/55/280/Add.2, para. 76). 160 If repudiation is pronounced a third time, it can be for any reason, the husband not being required to justify it, and he cannot take back his former wife unless, following a second union, she is repudiated by her second husband. Only then can the former husband and wife remarry. See verses 230 and 229 of surah 2 (French translation by S. Mazigh). Laws of Muslim countries have been based on these prescriptions. See article 19 of the Tunisian Personal Status Code: “A man shall be forbidden to marry a woman whom he has divorced three times”. 161 See report of CEDAW, Democratic Republic of the Congo (A/55/38, (Part I), para. 197). See also Report of the Human Rights Committee, Kuwait (A/55/40, vol. I, para. 458). 162 See surah 4, verses 15 and 16. 163 See surah 4, verse 15: “As for those of your women who are guilty of lewdness, call to witness four of you against them”. See also surah 24, verse 4: “Those who accuse honourable women but do not bring forth four witnesses, scourge them with eighty stripes and never afterwards accept their testimony; they indeed are evildoers”. See also verses 5 ff. 164 See Human Rights Committee, general comment 28, para. 31.

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