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 New Bill to stop Sharia law operating in the UK

On 7 June 2011 Baroness Cox introduced a new Bill in the House of Lords intended to outlaw the use of Sharia law where it conflicts with English law. In proposing the new Bill she said:

“Equality under the law is a core value of British justice. My Bill seeks to preserve that standard. My Bill seeks to stop parallel legal, or ‘quasi-legal’, systems taking root in our nation. Cases of criminal law and family law are matters reserved for our English courts alone.

“Equality under the law is a core value of British justice. My Bill seeks to preserve that standard. My Bill seeks to stop parallel legal, or ‘quasi-legal’, systems taking root in our nation. Cases of criminal law and family law are matters reserved for our English courts alone.

“Through these proposals, I want to make it perfectly clear in the law that discrimination against women shall not be allowed within arbitration. I am deeply concerned about the treatment of Muslim women by Sharia Courts. We must do all that we can to make sure they are free from any coercion, intimidation or unfairness. Many women say, ‘we came to this country to escape these practices only to find the situation is worse here’.”

The Bill has arisen over concerns about the discrimination suffered by Muslim women under the Sharia system. The Bill proposes to protect women by stopping discriminatory rulings that are contrary to UK law and ensuring that Sharia law does not appear to have jurisdiction where it does not.

Sharia law is a detailed system of Islamic law. It is used in both Sharia Councils and Muslim Arbitration Tribunals in the UK. The first Sharia Council was established in 1982 in Birmingham. A recent Civitas report suggested that there are now at least 85 such entities operating in the UK and that the Islamic Sharia Council has made over 7,000 judgments. There are currently at least five Muslim Arbitration Tribunals in Britain (Birmingham, Bradford, London, Manchester and Nuneaton).

Rulings under Sharia law are enforced through the 1996 Arbitration Act, which states that any form of agreement can be used if both parties agree to adhere to its decision. But Civitas found that the decisions of Sharia courts in the UK are likely to be unfair to women and backed by intimidation, and that Sharia rulings transgress human rights standards as applied by British courts.

The Bill’s proposals include:

Andrea Minichiello Williams, CEO of Christian Concern, said:

“We are backing this proposed new Bill and the campaign launched to support it – ‘Equal and Free’. There is much concern about the use of Sharia law in the UK and how it is used in a discriminatory way against women. The underlying principles of Sharia law are very different from those found in our domestic law. We want to make sure that women in the UK are not put at a disadvantage due to the spread of these courts. We need to ensure that the law of our land applies freely and equally to all citizens.”

The Bill is being supported by the ‘Equal and Free’ Campaign, backed by Christian Concern. Further information can be found on the campaign website here. The Bill is also being supported by the Christian Institute, the National Secular Society and other groups.

Please encourage members of the House of Lords to support the proposed Bill. Information on how to do so can be found here.

Under Sharia law:

Concerns have been raised over whether the principles of Sharia law are compatible with the UK law principle of equality under the law.

Source:

The Daily Telegraph