Press Release

EOHR calls upon the authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to restore the rights of an Egyptian woman and her daughter

 Howayda was married in 1995 through a formal marriage certificate, but this certificate was not formally registered with the Saudi Arabian embassy.  She filed a case before a court in Bolak El Dakrour which certified the marriage.  However, until now, the Saudi Arabian authorities have refused to grant the daughter a passport, telling her that they are continuing to await instructions from competent authorities in Saudi Arabia.

EOHR believes that the obstacles that this woman and her daughter are facing reflect the forms of suffering that are typically endured by Egyptian women who are married to non-Egyptian men.  EOHR affirms that in addition to clear discrimination against women in Egyptian and Saudi Arabian nationality laws, the refusal by the Saudi embassy to grant the daughter a passport is a clear breach of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Saudi Arabia is a signatory.  The convention states in article 7 that “The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.”

 In this regard, the EOHR calls upon the Saudi authorities to stop the suffering of the woman and her daughter and to grant the daughter her rights as outlined in the International Convention on the Rights of the Child including the right to acquire a passport.  Moreover, EOHR calls upon the Saudi authorities to permit the mother to enter Saudi Arabia in order to make her case directly to the Saudi authorities.