Palestine & the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women: Implications of Ratification These partial reforms by the Chief Justice Bureau which aim to reform the Personal Status Law are insufficient to eliminate the enormous contraventions of the principle of equality. Most provisions of the Personal Status Law are in contravention of articles (16, 15) of the Convention. Article (5) of the Personal Status Law No. (16) of 1976, which is relevant to conditions of the eligibility for marriage, states: “It shall be a condition precedent to the eligibility for marriage that the fiancé has completed sixteen (16) years of age and the fiancée has reached fifteen (15) years of age”. Article (6) of the same law states: “a. the judge shall have the right, upon request, to wed a virgin who has reached fifteen if the guardian has barred the marriage from occurring [as to unjustifiably prevent her from marriage], other than the father or grandfather from among the guardians, without a legitimate reason; b. On the other hand, in case her father or grandfather barred her from marriage, her request shall not be heard unless she has reached eighteen (18) years of age and the barring was without a legitimate reason”. Within the same law, article (7) states: “the conclusion of the contract with a woman who has not yet reached eighteen (18) years of age shall be prevented in case her fiancé is more than twenty (20) years older than she, unless the judge had verified her consent and choice and her interest is established therein.” These provisions of the law are also in clear contravention of article (16), paragraph (2) of the Convention, which states that “the betrothal and the marriage of a child shall have no legal effect, and all necessary action, including legislation, shall be taken to specify a minimum age for marriage and to make the registration of marriages in an official registry compulsory.” The same law considers on more than one occasion the guardianship of females as a condition for marriage. For example, article (10) states: “it shall be a condition precedent that the guardian is of sound mind and an adult and be a Muslim in the event the fiancée is a Muslim.” Article (12) of the same law maintains: “in the event the closer guardian is absent, and waiting for him might cause the loss of the fiancée’s interest, the right 29