Esther van Eijk
I am an independent researcher (PhD, Leiden University) based in the Netherlands. I have completed degrees in International Law and Arabic languages and cultures, before finishing my PhD on Syrian family law at Leiden University.
I am author of Family Law in Syria: Patriarchy, Pluralism and Personal Status Laws (London: I.B. Tauris, 2016). This study is based on extensive, ethnographic fieldwork in Damascus (Syria), consisting of interviews and court observations in three (Muslim, Catholic and Greek-Orthodox) personal status courts. My work has also appeared in the books Sharia Incorporated: A Comparative Overview of the Legal Systems of Twelve Muslim Countries in the Past and Present (2010) and Family Law in Islam: Divorce, Marriage and Women in the Muslim World (2012).
My research interests and expertise include Middle Eastern law (including Eastern Catholic marriage law), religious marriage and divorce, migration, gender and human rights issues, both in the academia and beyond.
Visit my personal website: www.esthervaneijk.nl
Address: www.esthervaneijk.nl
I am author of Family Law in Syria: Patriarchy, Pluralism and Personal Status Laws (London: I.B. Tauris, 2016). This study is based on extensive, ethnographic fieldwork in Damascus (Syria), consisting of interviews and court observations in three (Muslim, Catholic and Greek-Orthodox) personal status courts. My work has also appeared in the books Sharia Incorporated: A Comparative Overview of the Legal Systems of Twelve Muslim Countries in the Past and Present (2010) and Family Law in Islam: Divorce, Marriage and Women in the Muslim World (2012).
My research interests and expertise include Middle Eastern law (including Eastern Catholic marriage law), religious marriage and divorce, migration, gender and human rights issues, both in the academia and beyond.
Visit my personal website: www.esthervaneijk.nl
Address: www.esthervaneijk.nl
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Papers by Esther van Eijk
English summary
On 5 December 2015 the Act Combatting Forced Marriages (referred to hereafter as: the Act), entered into force in the Netherlands. From June 2019 until November 2019 Maastricht University and the Verwey-Jonker Institute carried out research to investigate how this Act works in practice. The Act aims, on the one hand, to further reduce the number of forced marriages that are celebrated in the Netherlands and, on the other, to limit the recognition of foreign marriages in the Netherlands to those marriages which reflect generally accepted forms of marriage in the Netherlands. Accordingly, the Act has produced a number of changes in Dutch marriage law and in the regulation of the recognition of foreign marriages. Dutch marriage law has been amended to ensure that aspirant spouses must have attained the age of eighteen and stricter requirements have been applied to marriages between blood relatives in the collateral line in the third and fourth degree. Furthermore, mechanisms to combat forced marriages, child marriages and polygamous marriages have been extended.
Two categories of research questions were distinguished: (quantitative) research questions regarding the numbers and characteristics of marriages falling within the scope of the Act and (qualitative) research questions regarding the use and application of the Act. The latter category involved the application of the Act by those persons charged with enforcing the Act (i.e. judges, civil status registrars and officials of the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND)), as well as the use of the Act, alongside factors which influence its use by the target groups.
English summary
On 5 December 2015 the Act Combatting Forced Marriages (referred to hereafter as: the Act), entered into force in the Netherlands. From June 2019 until November 2019 Maastricht University and the Verwey-Jonker Institute carried out research to investigate how this Act works in practice. The Act aims, on the one hand, to further reduce the number of forced marriages that are celebrated in the Netherlands and, on the other, to limit the recognition of foreign marriages in the Netherlands to those marriages which reflect generally accepted forms of marriage in the Netherlands. Accordingly, the Act has produced a number of changes in Dutch marriage law and in the regulation of the recognition of foreign marriages. Dutch marriage law has been amended to ensure that aspirant spouses must have attained the age of eighteen and stricter requirements have been applied to marriages between blood relatives in the collateral line in the third and fourth degree. Furthermore, mechanisms to combat forced marriages, child marriages and polygamous marriages have been extended.
Two categories of research questions were distinguished: (quantitative) research questions regarding the numbers and characteristics of marriages falling within the scope of the Act and (qualitative) research questions regarding the use and application of the Act. The latter category involved the application of the Act by those persons charged with enforcing the Act (i.e. judges, civil status registrars and officials of the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND)), as well as the use of the Act, alongside factors which influence its use by the target groups.