MP flays citizenship denial to children of local women

Manama : The decision of a parliamentary committee to deny the children of Bahraini women the right to be granted the Bahraini citizenship was criticised by an MP yesterday.

The House of Representatives’ Human Rights Committee Head Mohammed Al Maarifi said that the decision of the council’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security Committee to reject a proposal that grants the Bahraini citizenship to the children of Bahraini women married to foreigners is surprising.

“The council calls for equality between Bahraini men and women’s rights, and had previously agreed to join the international agreement of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). I’m surprised how the committee rejects equality between the rights of Bahraini fathers and mothers in terms of granting the
Bahraini citizenship to their children,” Al Maarifi said in a statement issued here yesterday.

“It’s unfair to punish Bahraini mothers because they choose to marry men of other nationalities by denying their children the right to obtain the Bahraini nationality. Bahraini women should be free to marry men from any nationality and to have their children carry their nationality, and not the citizenship of a country they may know nothing about,” he commented,

Al Maarifi, who is one of the six presenters of the proposal, noted in his statement to the Royal care of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and HM the King’s Wife and Supreme Council for Women (SCW) Chairwoman HRH Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa to Bahraini women.

The MP called upon the council’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security Committee members to reconsider the proposal and to “study it from a wider angle”. DT News reported yesterday that the committee issued a report that rejects the proposal after reviewing it with several authorities. The 40-member council will discuss and vote on the report during its regular session tomorrow.