Somalia: Information regarding divorce possibilities for Somali Moslem women and, whether divorce would be considered legally and religiously valid
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 January 1990 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | SOM3379 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Somalia: Information regarding divorce possibilities for Somali Moslem women and, whether divorce would be considered legally and religiously valid, 1 January 1990, SOM3379, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6abbd3c.html [accessed 17 September 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Sharia, Islamic religious law, finds divorce objectionable but permissible. [
FootnoteS:
Irving Kaplan et al. Area Handbook for Somalia, ( Washington: U.S. Government Printers, 1977), p.83.] The government of Siyaad Barre brought in major changes in its relationship with religious Somali, when in 1975, it announced a new family law that gave women equal inheritance rights [ibid. p.93.] and equal divorce rights. [Ahmed I. Samatar, Socialist Somalia Rhetoric and Reality, (London: Zed Books Ltd., 1988), p.107.]
The manager of COSTI, Centre for Italian Scholastic and Technical Organizations located in Toronto, states that since then women have been able to get a divorce not only from the traditional religious leaders, but also through the Qadis, government appointed Islamic judges. A Qadi is situated at each of the orientation centres located in every neighbourhood of Somali towns and cities. He reports that under the new family law, women are encouraged to divorce husbands who are away, often suspected of ties to opposition movements by the authorities. He suggests that automatic divorce is granted to women who publicly tell the Qadi that as revolutionaries they do not need their husbands.
There is no corroborating information regarding the above from published sources available to the IRBDC at the present time.
Attached please find excerpts from the following documents:
Irving Kaplan et al., Area Handbook for Somalia, Washington: U.S. Government Printers, 1977, pp.82-93.
Ahmed I. Samatar, Socialist Somalia Rhetoric and Reality, London: Zed Books Ltd., pp.104-107.