Hearing in the European Parliament: Injustice of Marital captivity

Femmes for Freedom and ALDE will organize a hearing in the European Parliament

Dutch Ngo Femmes for Freedom and ALDE, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, have joined forces to organize a hearing on the topic of the “ Injustice of Marital Captivity, on Monday, the 25th of June ((https://alde.eu/en/events/). More information about marital captivity and the Dutch accomplishments you can read on this website. 

The hearing brings together a broad audience of academics, experts, politicians and EU stakeholders to discuss the issue that keeps women trapped in a religious marriage and thus in a position of discrimination and oppression. These women lack independence and are hampered in their participation in society. Therefore, it is high time that marital captivity is recognized as gender-based discrimination and violence and, for the international community to raise its voice.

Marital captivity is not just a national problem, but has a strong international character. As the former Dutch Secretary of Justice, Fred Teeven, said “if Dutch divorces would be recognized everywhere, we would no longer be discussing marital captivity.” As long as not all divorces are recognized equally, it remains of the upmost importance to engage in bilateral and multilateral discussions with countries that have family laws enabling marital captivity. The EU speaks for its 28 members, and holds considerable influence during these negotiations. FFF encourages the EU to include family law and marital captivity as a discussion topic when negotiating new agreements, international human rights declarations, resolutions and EU law.

The hearing is a public event, but registration is obligatory. Please contact ALDE via Hilde Vautmans to register: hilde.vautmans@europarl.europa.eu