Rights
in Marriage
Mauritian
Women v. Mauritius, Human Rights Committee, Communication No.35/1978,
9 Apr. 1981.
Legislation that restricts the entry into the country of foreign
spouses of women, not men, violates the principle of equal treatment
of the sexes guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights. Details
Mst
Humaira v. Malik Moazzam Ghayas Khokhar & Ors, High Court,
Pakistan, 18 Feb 1999.
A woman has the right to contract marriage of her own free will
and police authorities must not interfere with this right; any
interference will constitute a violation of Article 16 of CEDAW.
Muller
and Engelhard v. Namibia, Human Rights Committee, Communication
No.919/2000, 26 Mar. 2002.
Subjecting a married couple’s choice to take the wife’s
surname to stricter and more cumbersome conditions than the
choice to take the husband’s surname is discrimination.
Furthermore, “the argument of a long-standing tradition
cannot be maintained as a general justification for different
treatment of men and women, which is contrary to the Covenant.”
Details
Paton
v. United Kingdom, European Court of Human Rights, Application
No. 8416/78
13 May 1980.
The right to respect family life under the European Convention
on Human Rights does not confer on a husband a right to be consulted
or to prevent his wife from having an abortion; preventing him
from interfering with the wife’s abortion is necessary
for the protection of her rights. 
Details
Rattigan
& Ors v. Chief Immigration Officer & Ors, [1994] (ICHRL
12, 13 June 1994, www.worldlii.org/int/cases/ICHRL/1994/12.html)
Refusal to issue residence permits to the foreign husbands of
female citizens violates women’s rights to freedom of
movement and privacy of the home. International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights Article 17 was consulted in making
this determination, though the right to family life is not enshrined
in the national constitution.
