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The information about the usage of contraceptives and how to abort is something that is highly restricted to legally married couples. Article 408 restrict the sharing of information about the use of contraceptive and abortion methods because of the general belief that if such information is disseminated it would contribute to the moral decay of the society. It comes as no surprise that article 409 provides for a jail term of up to six months to anyone who violates the latter mentioned article. The parliament of Indonesia promulgated the new Penal Code in December 2022. However, the new Code is also riddled with many downsides. Article 411 of the Code criminalizes any sexual intercourse outside the confines of a lawful marriage (zina) and anyone who practice sexual intercourse while not yet legally married is guilty of a criminal offence. This shows beyond any doubt that the normative system of Indonesia is dominated by Islamic principles because Islamic law forbids any form of extra-marital sexual intercourse and permits child marriages to protect the family honor and avoid the shame of getting pregnant outside marriage. Living together as husband and wife while not yet married to each other is forbidden in terms of article 412 of the new Criminal Code. Any woman who intentionally abort her child can be sentenced up to four years behind the bars except where such woman is a victim of rape or sexual assault. According to article 463 and 464 of the new Criminal Code, anyone who assists a pregnant woman with an abortion can be sentenced for up to five years in prison. The disadvantage of the latter mentioned articles is that they will reduce free exchange of important information about health by parents, teachers, the media and amongst the community members. This is contrary to the rights of girls and women that are protected by international law because under international law, girls and women have a right to receive sex education and to protect their sexual and reproductive health rights and autonomy to make their own individual choices about when to have children. As a result of this, numerous rights of girls and women can be affected in the process such as the right to education, can contribute to the prevalence of child marriages and this may also endanger lives and health of girls and women.

The legal framework of the Federal Republic of Somalia does not explicitly forbid apostasy but explicitly prohibits blasphemy against Islamic religion, object of worship and people venerated by Islam. If a person leaves Islam, he is ostracised by his kindred and the entire community. If he is a businessman, he would lose customers. If you are a jobseeker that is declared an apostate it becomes difficult to secure a job until you revert to Islam. The hatred against non-Muslims and non-believers is so deeply rooted in Somalia that many apostates has been persecuted in different ways. An apostate cannot inherit from a Muslim parent or ancestor and vice versa. The current application of blasphemy laws that exalt Islamic faith over other revealed religions is not in line with human rights obligations.

According to the Egyptian legal framework, a man is considered to have committed infidelity if he had sexual intercourse with another woman other than his wedded wife and such intercourse must take place within the marital home that he shares with his wife. If a man has sexual intercourse with an unmarried maiden in a hotel, that would not be regarded as an act of adultery. On the contrary, a woman does not enjoy the same privilege as her male counterparts. If a married woman sleeps with another man other than her wedded husband, she will be regarded as the one who committed adultery whether she did it in her marital home or outside it. What is good for the goose must also be good for the gander. An egalitarian society for all is not only a fundamental human right but an essential foundation for a prosperous, peaceful, and sustainable society. This paper intends to contribute to mounting pressure on the Egyptian government to revisit its discriminatory laws and to comply with its international human rights obligations.

Islamic law apportions different responsibilities to males and females because Allah created men with greater physical strength if compared to female counterparts. As a result of this men are mandated to be the protectors and financial providers to women and are given more inheritance if compared to women because of such responsibility. This justification of discrimination is likely to be challenged very soon. Any child born from unmarried parents and adultery (zina) is stigmatised as walad al zina (extra-marital child) for his entire life and is forbidden from inheriting an estate of his biological father. This exclusion constitutes an unfair discrimination against extra-marital children and is an affront to their human dignity. A comparison conducted shows that the South African common law does not discriminate between males and females and extra-marital child is not forbidden from inheriting the estate of his deceased biological father.

Muslim communities have settled in South Africa more 300 years ago, but their religious marriages were not recognised in South Africa. Muslim marriages were denied recognition merely because they are potentially polygynous in nature. This non-recognition has created many hardships for Muslim women. These hardships has prompted the Women Legal Centre (WLC) to institute a class action compelling the government to enact legislation recognising Muslim marriages. The Supreme Court of Appeal ordered for the recognition of Muslim marriages for all purposes and for the abolition of child marriages in Muslim marriages. The SCA Judgment was later confirmed by the Constitutional Court. The decision of the SCA is appraised; however, to permit marriage of a person under the age of 18 under certain circumstance might defeat the very aim of having the minimum age for marriage in the first place. This is so because Muslim marriages are notorious for permitting child marriages.

The marrying off of minor children that are below the age of 18 years has been common in Bangladesh for more than a century. The objective of the study is to discuss the legislative framework that regulates child marriages in Bangladesh and assess whether there is any progress made or not. The second objective is to discuss the main causes of child marriages and assess whether Bangladesh has complied with its international human rights obligations or not. The study adopted the desktop research and relied on the information available on books, journals and legislation. The study found out that there is no political will to end child marriages because the legislative framework forbids child marriages but also permits it if it is condoned by the parents and the courts. Islamic law is the major cause of the prevalence of child marriages because it permits and tolerates child marriages and 90 per cent of the population subscribes to it. Bangladesh failed to comply with its international human rights obligations.

The problem of child marriages is prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa and the UNICEF has estimated that more than 37 per cent of girls get married before reaching the age of 18 year, while more than11 per cent get married before the reaching the age of 15 years. Zimbabwe has enacted progressive legislation to address the dilemma of child marriages. However the problem of child marriages still persists and this paper shows that it is easy to change the law but not easy to change the society. This paper argues that legislative change is the first step to the right direction but a multi-pronged strategy is necessary to address child marriages. It is suggested that it is crucial to deal directly with the root causes of child marriages in addition to legislative change. The causes are, inter alia, poverty, peer pressure, teenage pregnancy and lack of education. One of the major causes is rooted in culture and religion such as the practice of kuzvarira and kuripa ngozi. Kuripa ngozi is practiced in order to appease the avenging spirit of a murdered person by compensating his family with a virgin bride and there is a general belief that failure to appease it might attract bad luck and even death for the entire family of the perpetrator. Over the years custom has influenced the attitude and behaviour of people. Therefore to change the law without changing the mind-set of the people through educational campaigns would be tantamount to dealing with the symptoms instead of the real problem.

In Islamic law, child custody is divided into physical custody and legal custody. Physical custody is given to a child's mother during the age of dependency, while legal custody is automatically assigned to the child's father. For a mother to qualify for custody and retain it in terms of Islamic Law, she must, among other things, not remarry. This requirement unfairly discriminates against women because the same is not expected of the father. Moreover, a mother is expected to reside in an environment where the father can visit and come back the same day. Failure to adhere to the above requirements may lead to custody being taken away from the mother. Again, this is discriminatory and leaves much room for arbitrary decisions that might not be in children's best interests. The South African Common Law regulation of child custody is more likely to promote the best interests of the child than its Islamic counterpart. In a recent landmark judgment, the South African Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) held that the failure to give full legal recognition to Muslim marriages amounted to the violation of Muslim spouses' rightto equality, dignity, children's rights, and the right of access to courts. Moreover, all provisions of South Africa's Divorce Act will now apply to all Muslim marriages dissolved by divorce. Therefore, the SCA rightfully extended the Common Law position on child custody to Islamic marriages to safeguard the best interest of the child.