Progress Amid Resistance

400 WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICAreligion.” Article 34 also provides that all citizens have equal rights andduties, thereby providing female citizens with additional legal protectionagainst discrimination. Women who feel they have been the victims ofgender-based discrimination may complain to the police, appeal throughthe judicial system, or approach the NHRC, although not many use thesecomplaint mechanisms. Any individual who has been affected by a discriminatoryadministrative decision may file a claim with the AdministrativeCourt under Law No. 7 of 2007, or, if the complaint is labor-related, the af -fected woman can file a case with the labor court or complain to the Min istryof Labor. Most rights in the constitution (among them, rights related toemployment and property ownership) apply only to Qatari citizens, whichis significant in a country where the majority of residents are noncitizens.Qatari women have the limited ability to pass their nationality to theirnon-Qatari husbands and children. The Qatari Citizenship Act (No. 38of 2005) replaced its 1961 predecessor, a notoriously exclusive law thatpreviously limited citizenship to descendants of those persons living inQatar before 1930. The new law provides several avenues by which citizenshipmay be obtained, but it retains preferential treatment for nativeas opposed to naturalized citizens and continues to discriminate againstQatari women. For instance, Article 8 grants citizenship to the foreignwives of Qatari men after five years of marriage and upon notificationto the Ministry of the Interior, but the noncitizen husbands of Qatariwomen face far more onerous preconditions for obtaining citizenshipunder Article 2.Article 2 permits any person—including noncitizen husbands andchildren—to seek Qatari citizenship subject to extensive restrictions. Theapplicant must have maintained 25 successive years of residence in Qatar;traveled abroad for less than two months each year; maintained legal em -ployment; established a good reputation and maintained good behavior;and learned to communicate adequately in Arabic. As noted by theNCHR, the 25-year residency requirement limits this law’s value becausechildren’s needs for the benefits conferred by citizenship, such as healthcare and education, are most acute while they are still young. 1 On theother hand, children of native-born Qatari fathers gain full citizenshiprights upon birth.Qatar’s judicial system is comprised of the Supreme Court, the courtof appeals, and courts of first instance. The Shari‘a courts that existedprior to 2003 were abolished and any matters pending before them were