Global Repository of Muslim Family Laws

Main Laws that Govern Muslim Marriages

1. The 1951 Constitution. 
2. The Constitutional Declaration dated August 3rd 2011 issued by the Transitional Council.
3. The law No. 1 of 1958 pertaining to the Procedures of Shari’a Courts. 
4. The Law No. 10 of 1984 regarding provisions relating to marriage and divorce, their effects, and its amendments.
5. Law No. 22 of 1991 amending some provisions of Law No. 10 of 1984 regarding provisions relating to marriage and divorce and their effects.
6. Law No. 14 of 2015, amending some provisions of the law No 10 of 1984 regarding provisions relating to marriage and divorce issued by the defunct General National Congress.

Equal Status in Marriage

The Family Law provides for a marital framework based on three principles: 

1. Complementarity. 
2. Reciprocity
3. Equality. 

The wife is entrusted with guardianship. The husband is entrusted with overall guardianship.

The Family Law treats men and women as equal partners in certain aspects. It discriminates against women in some aspects.

Minimum Age of Marriage

Between 1984 and 2015, the minimum age of marriage was twenty (20) pursuant to the Law No. (10) of 1984 regarding provisions relating to marriage and divorce, their effects, and its amendments.    

As of October 14th, 2015, the minimum age of marriage is eighteen (18) for females and males pursuant to Article 6 (b) of the Marriage and Divorce Law (1984) as amended by the Law No. 14 of 2015, amending some provisions of the law No 10 of 1984 regarding provisions relating to marriage and divorce issued by the defunct General National Congress.^{http://aladel.gov.ly/home/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%B1%D9%82%D9%85-14-%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%86%D8%A9-2015%D9%85-%D8%A8%D8%AA%D8%B9%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%B6-%D8%A3%D8%AD%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%B1%D9%82%D9%85-10-%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%86%D8%A9-1984%D9%85-%D8%A8%D8%B4%D8%A3%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%AD%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%B5%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B2%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AC-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%82-%D9%88%D8%A2%D8%AB%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%87%D9%85%D8%A7.pdf} Because of the political division, Personal Status Law No. 10 of 1984 is still in force in the east of the country, which sets the age of marriage at twenty.^{Article 6(a) of the Marriage and Divorce Law (1984) as amended by Law No. 14/2015, http://aladel.gov.ly/home/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/قانون-رقم-14-لسنة-2015م-بتعديل-بعض-أحكام-القانون-رقم-10-لسنة-1984م-بشأن-الأحكام-الخاصة-بالزواج-والطلاق-وآثارهما.pdf; Before 2015, the original Article 6(a) had 20 as the minimum marriage age.}

Divorce Provisions for Women and Men

The wife is entitled to one final divorce through redemptive divorce (Khula).

The law grants the husband and the wife the right to divorce. 

There are five main mechanisms for divorce: 

1. Revocable divorce by the husband.^{Article 28 of the Marriage and Divorce Law (1984) as amended by Law No. 14/2015, http://aladel.gov.ly/home/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/قانون-رقم-14-لسنة-2015م-بتعديل-بعض-أحكام-القانون-رقم-10-لسنة-1984م-بشأن-الأحكام-الخاصة-بالزواج-والطلاق-وآثارهما.pdf. Before 2015, divorce can only be effected by a court order.} 
2. Third irrevocable divorce by the husband. 
3. Final Divorce by the husband entailing exemption by the wife of the husband to pay divorce alimony.   
4. Redemptive divorce by the wife (khul’) based on request to a competent judge.^{essica Carlisle, “Her Day in Court: The Work of a Judge on Family Law Cases in Tripoli”, in Searching for Justice in Post-Gaddafi Libya, eds. Jan Michiel Otto, Jessca Carlisle and Suliman Ibrahim, (Leiden/Benghazi: Leiden University, 2013), p. 110, http://media.leidenuniv.nl/legacy/otto-jm,-j-carlisle-and-s-ibrahim-2013-searching-for-justice-in-post-g”addafi-libya.pdf}
5. Judicial divorce by the competent judge. 

Revocable divorce and third divorce

The husband may conduct revocable divorces twice. The third will be final. The former spouses may not get married again except after the former wife had married another person and was divorced. 

Redemptive Divorce 

A wife may be granted redemptive divorce (khul’) in exchange for a compensation to be paid to the husband equivalent to, or in light of, the marriage dowry and gifts. 

The competent judge may award the redemptive divorce over the objection of the husband if the judge finds that the husband’s refusal is unreasonable.^{Articles 48-49 of the Marriage and Divorce Law (1984) as amendment by Law No. 14/2015, http://aladel.gov.ly/home/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/قانون-رقم-14-لسنة-2015م-بتعديل-بعض-أحكام-القانون-رقم-10-لسنة-1984م-بشأن-الأحكام-الخاصة-بالزواج-والطلاق-وآثارهما.pdf} 

Judicial divorce

A judicial divorce may be decided by the competent judge based on the request of one of the spouses, or the request of a third party with capacity and interest. 

Valid grounds for seeking judicial divorce by a wife include: 

1. Failure by the husband to provide financial maintenance. 
2. A health condition preventing consummation of the marriage.
3. Prolonged unjustified absence.
4. Abandonment of the marital bed for over four months. 

Harm caused by the husband.^{Articles 39-43 of the Marriage and Divorce (1984), http://aladel.gov.ly/home/?p=1246; Libya State party report, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/LBY /5 (2009), pp. 36-37, http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/cedaw/pages/cedawindex.aspx}

The mandatory registration of a divorce is provided for in Article 29 of the Civil Status Law No. 36/1968. 

Article 30 states that divorce court rulings must be registered within 10 days of their issuance.^{Articles 29-30 of the Civil Status Law (1968), http://security-legislation.ly/ar/node/31796}

Positive Feature(s) Under Muslim Family Law

Women have been granted more rights in implementation of the principle of positive discrimination. The law stipulated a paid maternity leave and provided for the protection of working women during pregnancy. For example, the law prohibited the engagement of women in works that are harmful to health. The legislator provided women with promotion and vacations that allow them to strike a balance between family requirements and work obligations. In order to enable working women to take care of their children during work period, the law provided women with two additional breaks during work hours per day not less than half an hour. The law obliged employers to allocate places for nurseries.

Administration Of And Access To Justice On Marriage And Family Matters

The judicial system consists of a hierarchical four-tier organization:

The Supreme Court: it is the highest entity within the judicial structure. It is located in the capital, Tripoli. It consists of a president and a number of advisors It is comprised five chambers: a chamber for civil and commercial cases, a chamber for criminal matters, an administrative chamber, a constitutional chamber, and a shari’a chamber.

Courts of Appeal: Courts of the second instance with regard to the appeals filed against the verdicts of the courts of first instance. Verdicts issued by appeal courts are subject to cassation before the Supreme Court.

Courts of First Instance: They are considered common law courts. They are courts of second degree to consider judgments issued by summary courts.

Summary Courts: They are a branches of first instance courts, and specialize in adjudicating civil, commercial, and personal status matters, as well as looking into misdemeanors and infractions. They are located in small towns.

Marriage and divorce laws and/or practices are adjudicated pursuant to the provisions of the: 

1. The Law No (1) of 1958 pertaining to the Procedures of Shari’a Courts. 
2. The Law No. (10) of 1984 regarding provisions relating to marriage and divorce, their effects, and its amendments.
3. The Law of Civil and Commercial Proceedings No 18 / 1989 issued in 20/12/1989.

Constitutional Provisions

In 2011, the Transitional Council issued the Constitutional Declaration, Article 6 states that Libyans shall be equal before the law, enjoy equal civil and political rights, have the same opportunities in all areas and be subject to the same public duties and obligations, without distinction on various basis, including gender or familial adherence.^{Article 6 of Libya’s Constitution (2011), https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Libya_2011.pdf}

The Constitutional Declaration does not make reference to or exceptions for Islamic laws and/or family laws.

Other National Laws

There is no civil legislation on domestic violence or gender-based violence. The military conflict and COVID led to a rise in domestic violence. Civil society organizations demanded the promulgation of civil law on domestic violence and gender based violence. However, there has been no response.

The Penal Code contains some general prohibitions that are applicable to domestic violence including slander, hitting, defamation, torture, murder and sexual exploitation. The Penal Code does not include provisions that specifically address domestic violence, or harmful traditional practices. Societal organizations demanded the promulgation of criminal laws on domestic violence and gender based violence. In 2013, the Ministry of Justice submitted a draft law aimed at supporting victims of domestic violence.^{UK Home Office, “Libya: Violence Against Women”, Country Information and Guidance, p. 10, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/362008/CIG_-_Libya_-_Women_-__October_8_2014.pdf} However, there has been no response.

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

On May 16th 1989, Libya ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The ratification was published in the Official Gazette No 20 for the year 1989. Accordingly, everyone with an interest has the right to invoke its provisions before the Libyan judiciary as it is part of the internal legislation, as the periodic reports submitted by Libya to the United Nations Human Rights Committee stipulate.

During the accession, Libya expressed a general reservation that this accession does not conflict with the personal status laws derived from Islamic Sharia. This reservation in general constitutes an obstacle to the legislator in his application of the international convention. At the same time, it provides wide discretionary powers for the national legislator to formulate Laws that may or may not be compatible with what is stipulated in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Libya’s reservations regarding Articles 2 and 16(d) of CEDAW are as follows: 

• Article 2 of the Convention will be implemented with due regard for the peremptory norms of Shari’ah principles relating to inheritance;
• The implementation of Articles 16(c) and (d) will be without prejudice to any of the rights guaranteed to women by the Islamic Shari’ah.^{United Nations Treaty Collection Website, https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-8&chapter=4&clang=_en}

On 5/7/1995, Libya informed the Secretary-General of the United Nations of its decision to amend its reservation and make it more specific. It stated that 

“Libya declares its accession to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 12/18/1979 with the following reservation: 

Article (2) of the agreement shall be applied taking into account the peremptory provisions of Islamic law related to determining the shares of the heirs in the estate of a deceased person, whether female or male.

The Government of Libya in its 2009 report to the CEDAW Committee said that the MDL does not provide for equality in respect to the rights and responsibilities during marriage and at its dissolution. Instead, Articles 17 and 18 of the MDL tasks the husband and wife with different rights and responsibility towards each other.^{Libya State party report, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/LBY/5 (2009), pp. 36-37, http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/cedaw/pages/cedawindex.aspx}

On the societal level, there has been a split over CEDAW. One segment approved it. Another segment assessed that it includes provisions that violate the Shari’a. A third segment approved the majority of its provisions and had reservations over some provisions.  

In 2021, Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah formed a committee to investigate the procedures and backgrounds that led to the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding to seek technical assistance to develop a national action plan for the implementation of SCR 1325 Agreement between Libya’s Minister of State for Women’s Affairs and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality. The committee includes the Minister of Youth, the Director of the Legal Affairs and Complaints Department, and a representative of the Council of Ministers, headed by the Minister of Justice, provided that they submit the outcomes to the Prime Minister within a maximum period of 10 days. 

The Minister of State for Women’s Affairs, Houria Tourmal, had signed with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality an MoU to work on a national action plan for the implementation of SCR 1325. The backlash happened for the confusion between WPS agenda and the CEDAW. The Mufti shaykh Sadik Gheriani issued a fatwa against the MoU based on the allegedly incompatibility between CEDAW and Islamic Sharia’.^{Report of the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/2022-03/A_HRC_49_4_AUV.pdf https://www.libyaobserver.ly/inbrief/pm-orders-investigation-libyas-signing-cedaw-agreement-un-gender-equality}

The last CEDAW review was in 2009.^{الملاحظات الختامية للجنة المعنية بالقضاء على التمييز ضد المرأة، 6 فبراير 2009. https://www.refworld.org/country,,CEDAW,,LBY,,49c0ce7e2,0.html}

Links to CEDAW reports that refer to Muslim family laws and practices

There are two CEDAW reports but they are not available online.

Links to Concluding Observations That Refer to Reform of Muslim Family Laws and Practices 

During its third UPR Cycle in March 2021, Libya did not accept the recommendations made by Spain to “[r]epeal the provisions of the Personal Status Act that are discriminatory against women regarding marriage, divorce, inheritance and transmission of nationality”, or by Portugal to “protect, respect and fulfil women’s rights and combat discrimination”, or by Finland to “protect [women from] discrimination and amend the legislative framework to promote gender equality.”

Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Libya, UN Doc. A/HRC/46/17 (5 January 2021); 

UN Doc. A/HRC/46/17/Add.1 (8 March 2021), paras. 148.222, 148.244, 148.248.

الملاحظات الختامية للجنة المعنية بالقضاء على التمييز ضد المرأة، 6 فبراي 2009.

https://www.refworld.org/country,,CEDAW,,LBY,,49c0ce7e2,0.html

Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women : Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

6 February 2009 | Publisher: UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) | Document type: Concluding Observations

Any other relevant regional or international treaty or convention signed by Libya

Other treaties

Libya is party to numerous international and regional human rights treaties & has ratified them, including:

• The CEDAW and its Optional Protocol 1989; 
• The ICCPR and its First Optional Protocol;
• The ACHPR and the Maputo Protocol; 
• The Arab Charter; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), 
• The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), 
• The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), 
• The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), 
• The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (CMW),
•  The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). 
• With specific reference to women’s human rights, beside the CEDAW and the Maputo Protocol, Libya is party to: 

The Convention on the Political Rights of Women 5/16 1989; the Convention on the Nationality of Married Women 16, 1989; the Convention against Discrimination in Education, and three International Labour Organization’s (ILO) conventions relevant to the rights of working women, including the Maternity Protection Convention (Nos. 3, 183), the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention (No. 111), and the Equal Remuneration Convention (No. 100) 9/3/1989.

2021:

Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Libya, UN Doc. A/HRC/46/17 (5 January 2021); 

2019: 

https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/CSW/64/National-reviews/Libya-en.pdf

Libya Comprehensive National Review of Progress towards the Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action after 25 years 2019

https://archive.uneca.org/sites/default/files/uploaded-documents/Beijing25/libya-beijing25_report.pdf

ليبيا المراجعة الوطنية الشاملة للتقدم المحرز نحو تنفيذ إعلان ومنهاج عمل بيجين بعد 25 عاما 2019

2015: 

Libya issued the national report that highlighted the progress made towards the Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action during the period 2010-2015.

2009: 

Libya issued the national report highlighting the progress made towards the Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

Sustainable Development Goals

According to The SDG Knowledge Platform,  

“In implementing the Sustainable Development Program, Libya has taken an approach based on its experience working on the Millennium Development Goals, Since the Ministry of Planning is competent to develop national development policies and plans, the Ministry has sought to create an institutional framework To follow up on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals through the formation of the Sustainable Development Committee, which includes a number of experts Specialists from the sectors and related entities, and has been assigned a set of tasks, the most important of which is adapting and integrating the objectives Sustainable development in national development strategies and plans in coordination with different sectors, and follow-up progress in Achieving sustainable development goals, preparing and reviewing voluntary reports. Libya’s Voluntary National Report (2020) was prepared in accordance with an operational plan developed for this purpose, which included a mechanism for implementation in accordance with For a timeline, where a team was formed for each of the selected goals, a small team was formed to assemble Reports from different task forces for the different objectives to be formulated in the final report.

Through the Ministry of Planning, Libya has prepared several national strategies and plans that promote the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals It has been keen to align its national strategies in various areas with sustainable development goals, such as strategy (2022- National Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency  2030), as well as the Plan for the Advancement of the Water Resources Sector in Libya (2020) And others. As part of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, the Ministry of Planning has also adopted a three-way development plan for all sectors of the country. 2022) includes, in particular, the inclusion of the Sustainable Development Goals in the proposal of the National Plan -2021- for the years (2020) for the development referred to.”

In 2020, Libya presented its Voluntary National Review.^{https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/memberstates/libya}

The Ministry of Planning, and the SDG-responsive Civil society organizations, especially ones focused on promoting women’s rights, measure progress of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Program including the SDG 5 on gender equality.

By local researchers, activists and civil society groups

• Child Marriage in Libya: Ignored by Society, Unprotected by Legislation
• Marwan Tashani, Jazia Gibril  |   07/05/2019
• Zahra’ Langhi, Abuse of Women’s Rights in Libya: Trends, Patterns, and Relevant Legislations & Policies.^{https://www.defendercenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Research-web-EN-13-1-1.pdf}
• Women’s Human Rights in the Libyan Draft Constitution Ensuring equality, overcoming discrimination. A legal briefing. ICJ.^{https://www.icj.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Libya-Women-in-Constitution-publications-legal-briefings-2021-ENG.pdf}
• .نظرة ” نسوية” لدستورية قوانين الأحوال الشخصية في ليبيا^{https://bit.ly/3lSjEi1}

By international bodies

• Gender Justice & The Law Assessment of laws affecting gender equality in the Arab States region, 2018.^{https://archive.unescwa.org/sites/www.unescwa.org/files/uploads/additional-file-english.pdf}
• LIBYA Gender Justice & The Law. ESCWA, UNDP, UNFPA. 2018.^{https://archive.unescwa.org/sites/www.unescwa.org/files/events/files/libya-adjusted.pdf}

Campaigns

In 2018, a group of civil society organizations established a coalition to change article 424 (“424 is NOT a Solution”).

The network stated that the continued application of this article represents a continuation of the legalized violence against women subjected to rape, as the law will not compel the victim to accept marriage with the rapist offender, but rather it is the system of customs and traditions that oblige the victim to accept this situation, which means that it is compelled to this marriage.

The statement considered that the foregoing means that the victim was wronged twice when the perpetrator escaped punishment first and forced her to live with him despite his shameful act secondly, indicating that most Arab societies have canceled a similar law from their laws, including Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, and finally Bahrain.

The network considered that the survival of Article 424 and its continuation in the Libyan legal system is an acknowledgment of all those who fall victim to rape and the impunity of the perpetrator, so that justice requires waiting for all efforts in order to communicate with the legislative authority in Libya to repeal the article, according to the statement.

The network (424 is not a solution) concluded its statement by inviting all civil society organizations in Libya to join it due to the importance of the cause that it said it defends, its justice and its comprehensiveness, because this type of issue affects the entire society and does not concern women only.

Key Groups
https://bit.ly/3sSMXVj

https://www.icj.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Libya-Women-in-Constitution-publications-legal-briefings-2021-ENG.pdf