By IANS
Abu Dhabi : The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will soon revise its judiciary law to enable women to join the country’s judicial corps.
“The justice ministry is determined through its strategic plan to give woman her opportunity in the judicial sector by amending the judiciary law to allow women to sit on judge bench,” UAE’s Minister for Justice Hadef Al Dhahiri said while speaking at the opening session of a woman and judiciary conference here Monday.
“This will open up the judiciary door before women at federal level, thus following the suit of emirate of Abu Dhabi,” the minister said.
Earlier this month, president of the UAE and ruler of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued an Emiri Decree appointing a lady, Kholoud Ahmed Juwan Al Dhahiri, as a primary judge at the Abu Dhabi judiciary department, thus making her the first woman judge in the country.
Hadef Al Dhahiri indicated that some UAE women trained by the institute have already taken their position as public prosecutors in Abu Dhabi.
He added that the UAE woman had received a high standard of education, which qualifies her to join all walks of life.
“The UAE woman has left her visible hallmarks and touches in every sector she gets involved in,” he said.
According to him, the UAE woman has occupied many senior positions and has proven to the whole world that she was no less productive than man.
Addressing the gathering, Noura Al Suweidi, director general of General Women Union (GWU), said: “Sheikh Khalifa’s resolution is a perfect application of the UAE constitution which guarantees complete equality between citizens in terms of work and equal opportunities without discrimination between man and woman.”
She said the remarkable achievements made by women in the UAE were based on a solid ground of support from the president and other UAE leaders.
“The UAE leaders are keen to see woman occupy her proper stature in different fields so as to contribute along with her partner (man) to the national development,” she said.
“Engagement of woman in the judicial corps epitomises the prudence of the UAE leadership,” she said, adding that the country’s Federal National Council has four woman ministers and nine woman members overall.
Meanwhile, in another development, Saudi Arabia’s Minister for Justice Abdullah Al-Sheikh has said that Saudi women would be employed in soon-to-be-established reception centres at courts.
“We have come up with a mechanism in which women can reach judges without having to mingle with men,” the Arab News quoted Al-Asheikh as saying on the sidelines of a meeting with members of the country’s Human Rights Commission in Riyadh.
These women-only reception centres will provide legal assistance before cases are brought before judges.
“These reception centres will deal with women visitors and convey their requests to judges,” he said.