The latest issue of Brill’s Hawwa: Journal of Women of the Middle East and the Islamic World includes an article by Lena-Maria Möller on the development of family law in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
“Family Law in the GCC and the Best Interests of the Child: The Multiple Meanings of a Vague Legal Concept”
The article explores the “best interests of the child” standard in the family law regimes of Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. It addresses how the introduction of the “best interests of the child” standard has served to reform family law, and what the interpretation of the concept of “best interests of the child” reveals about changing societal values, family structures, and present-day attitudes towards motherhood and fatherhood in the GCC. The author argues that, although the “best interests of the child” standard has come to influence most aspects of child law in those three countries, its usage and meaning remain inconsistent.
The article is available open-access in SSRN’s Islamic Law & Law of the Muslim World eJournal (login or free registration may be required) by clicking here.