Call for special courts to tackle family violence in Qatar

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The seminar  featured a round-table discussion on legislation to combat family violence. The participants included a woman Kuwaiti lawyer, Salma Al Ajmi, Qatari lawyer Fauziya Al Obaidli, Abdullah Omar, a judge from Qatar, among others. Ilham Badr was the moderator.

While stressing the need for family courts, the speakers noted that under the existing system, the privacy and dignity of the victims are not respected.

Abdulla Omar said one of the articles in the existing law says that anyone who knew about a crime and didn’t inform the authorities is punishable by fine or imprisonment. This article, however, does not include the husband and wife and thus encourages violence in the family.

Omar said the law should be revised and modified. Other speakers called for a new law to combat family violence. SCFA has set up a committee to revise the law related to family violence, the seminar was told.

Fauziya said the Family Counseling Centre was not doing its job properly. The cases remain with them for six months up to a year pending a final decision.

She said the newly appointed judges don’t know how to deal with the victims so they need to be trained.

“We are suffering every day. Today a woman called me and said she was beaten by her husband and she could not go to the court because she was locked inside the house without access to a telephone. Finally, she managed to contact a lawyer through her husband, who went to the Public Prosecution and filed a case against the husband,” said Fauziya.

 

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