Transnational family relations. A comparative perspective on present legal challenges (JOURNALNR UIO: 07/230)

The project focuses on minority women's right to non-discrimination, in the light of their position in the family and marriage, and with a view to a cultural complex, socially unequal and transnational context of law. The focal point of the study is on Mu slim women's right to protection against discrimination with focus on the relationship between Muslim family law, international and national law. How Muslim family law is dealt with in Norwegian law and other Nordic legal systems will be compared with the legal situation in Canada. The legal situation in Canada makes a promising starting point for comparative analysis. Canada has received migrants from Muslim countries for a longer time span and has a much larger Muslim immigrant population than Norway. The legal questions they are faced with today, can give us an idea of what we will experience in Norway in the years to come. In addition to this, Canada has on the provincial level had law processes regarding faith based arbitration in family matters. T hese have spurred vast debates and been under detailed scrutiny from researchers. The Ontario process proves an interesting case of the interplay between international, national and local law that takes place in transnational family and marriage relations hips The aim of the comparative studies in Canada will be further examination of this process, focusing on both legal arguments on how to balance different sets of (assumingly) conflicting rights within the present national and international law regimes , but also on the different views on how this is best achieved in practical life. The project applies a grounded and human rights based methodology that draws upon both legal material and empirical data.