Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 9 -15 November 2000 Issue No.507
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

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Flying free at last

By Reem Leila

The Supreme Constitutional Court annulled on Saturday a decree by the minister of interior that required a wife to obtain the permission of her husband before she was issued a passport. The court declared that the minister had no authority to permit or prohibit women from travelling. Any contrary claim is unconstitutional because it infringes on the basic constitutional right to freedom of mobility, which the minister has no authority to define or restrict.

According to article 21 of ministerial decree 63 of 1959, a wife is not allowed to travel without her husband's permission. This decree was amended by another ministerial decree, 3937 for 1996, stating that the wife has to obtain her husband's permission before she is issued a passport. The husband's approval of a passport for his wife was taken as implicit permission by the husband for his wife to travel. There was no need to obtain his permission for every time she wanted to travel. Law 1 for the year 2000, popularly known as khul', says that all family disputes on the right to travel should be exclusively determined by a special judge. This means that if the husband did not approve of his wife travelling, he has to go to the judge and file an injunction. Later on, and after many objections by men, the language of the law was changed.

The travel article as it stands now does not mention men or women specifically, but it does say that those who wish to travel and are prevented from doing so can file an appeal with a judge. This provision of the law has been automatically annulled by the ruling of the Constitutional Court.

"The ministerial decree was considered unconstitutional; nobody is authorised to restrict any citizen's freedom of mobility. Any conditions or procedures for issuing passports can only be determined by the law and not by a decree. This is because the interior minister is part of the executive authority and not the legislative authority," says Mona Zulfiqar, a prominent lawyer and feminist activist.

The decree was issued during the Nasserist era by Mamdouh Salem, the minister of the interior at the time. It was intended to protect and prevent the abuse of young women who were encouraged to travel abroad, particularly to Lebanon, without the permission of their parents or husbands. They were travelling for alleged commercial activities, whereas their sponsors intended them for prostitution rings.

The ruling of the Constitutional Court will take effect in two weeks, once it is published in the official gazette. According to the court, the new ruling must be in line with Islamic Shari'a. Article 11 of the Egyptian constitution states that a woman's duties towards her family and her work in society should not violate Islamic law.

According to Zeinab Radwan, dean of Cairo University's Faculty of Islamic Studies (Fayoum Branch), and deputy chairperson of the legislative committee at the National Council for Women (NCW), a marriage cannot take place without the consent of the two parties. A woman has the right to stipulate that she is entitled to education, work or travel for any appropriate reason.

"Islam has outlined certain channels through which family disputes can be resolved, and none of them is the business of a cabinet minister or the government. The government, moreover, does not have the right to be biased towards any family member. Also, Islam does not permit either spouse to force the other to agree to something that the other does not want," said Radwan.

Radwan asked rhetorically, "Does a woman have to produce to the government the husband's approval when she wants to work or get educated? Of course not. So why must she seek this permission when she wants to travel? Moreover, travelling is temporary and not long-lasting, like work and education," added Radwan.

According to Fawziya Abdel-Sattar, a professor of law and head of the legislative committee at the NCW, there have been demands over the past three years from feminist NGOs and individuals to annul the ministerial decree. Since the inauguration of the NCW, the legislative committee has made a great effort and put pressure on the minister of interior to annul the decree. For one reason or another, the minister was unresponsive to the demand.

"All women should be proud of the court's ruling because it can never be annulled. And it is in line with the Egyptian constitution that men and women have equal rights and duties," Abdel-Sattar emphasised.

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