My Lords, I shall speak also to my other amendments in this group—Amendments 5, 168, 169 and 170, which all relate to the same issue.
I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, and the noble Lords, Lord Mendelsohn and Lord Palmer, who have added their names to the amendments, providing cross-party support. I also thank my noble friends the Ministers, who have been so generous with their time in meeting Peers to discuss the amendments and other issues relating to the Bill, and indeed for their passion for, and dedication to, improving the support and recognition of victims of domestic abuse.
This set of amendments is designed to address a specific type of abuse that mostly affects religious Jewish women, and I declare an interest as one. This issue has long been of concern to me and to many other religious Jews in this country and worldwide. Our aim with the amendments is to help victims who are unable to leave a failed marriage because their spouse unreasonably decides to prevent them moving on with their life in accordance with Jewish religious law.
I stress at the outset that the amendments are specifically designed to refer only to Jewish religious divorce, with no intention of impacting on procedures relevant to any other religion. Jewish law, of course, governs Judaism, and there is no intention to undermine the role of the Jewish courts. The amendments are intended to offer a means of helping those impacted by a particular type of abuse that can arise in some cases in this country under Jewish laws of divorce.
I also stress that the majority of Jewish divorces proceed smoothly and British Jewish wives can move on with their lives once their civil divorce is finalised. However, sadly, there are some instances where a husband, sometimes demanding money to improve a divorce settlement agreed in the civil courts, sometimes driven by a desire to punish or control their ex-wife and sometimes to continue emotional abuse that existed in the marriage, unreasonably refuses to grant the get—the Jewish bill of divorce—leaving the wife married to him in the eyes of Jewish law, even if she wishes to be free.
The amendments seek to protect and support Jewish women—it is, I am afraid, usually women—whose husbands do not willingly sign the Jewish divorce document, the get. A get can be secured only if a man initiates it and the woman agrees—it cannot be initiated by the woman—so it is intrinsically biased in favour of the husband and is, sadly, open to abuse. This is a Jewish legal document that must be approved by the rabbinical court, known as the beth din, which literally means “House of Judgment”, and it allows a couple to divorce by mutual consent. However, a get is legally valid in Jewish religious law only if approved by the beth din, and this normally requires the rabbinical judges to be satisfied that it has been agreed voluntarily.
Those worst affected by an unreasonable refusal to grant a Jewish religious divorce can effectively be kept chained in the marriage for decades as their husbands prevent them being able to marry anyone else or have children accepted under Jewish religious law. As noble Lords can imagine, this situation causes immense distress to the women, who are known as agunot, which can be translated as “chained wives”.
Of course, ultimately, it is up to the religious authorities to make decisions about religious Jewish divorce, and there is an entire legal framework governing all aspects
of Jewish life which dates back to biblical law. These amendments cannot interfere with the rulings of the religious courts. Nevertheless, with this Bill being such a huge advance for our country and offering our citizens better protection and support against abuse, I hope that my noble friends on the Front Bench will agree that these victims should also be entitled to the protection that will be available. The amendments specifically aim to address the plight of the abuse victims in such circumstances so that these citizens, who are subjected to such unreasonable, coercive and controlling behaviour, can access practical and emotional support, as provided under the Bill.
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Amendment 3 would add the unreasonable refusal to grant a get as a recognised form of domestic abuse in British law. It would specifically enshrine in this legislation that a spouse unreasonably preventing the dissolution of a Jewish religious marriage with a get was brought within the scope of the Bill as committing a defined form of abusive behaviour.
Amendment 5 stipulates that a spouse impeding the dissolution of a religious Jewish marriage can be considered to be acting in a controlling, coercive, threatening or abusive manner to their partner for the purposes of the Bill.
I stress that the amendments are not designed in any way to reduce the ability of the Jewish religious court to apply Jewish law and, in particular, the provisions of the Divorce (Religious Marriages) Act 2002, which was a welcome step forward in helping those chained women and had the support of the much-missed Lord Sacks and the London Beth Din. The 2002 Act means that a judge can refuse to grant a decree absolute to a Jewish wife whose husband has not agreed to provide a get, but that has not stopped the problem of chained wives.
A civil divorce will not substitute for a get, no matter how long the wife and husband are separated. If their relationship was abusive to begin with, this is a way in which the man can continue that abuse and continue to exert control over his wife with impunity. In Jewish law, any relationship with another man would be considered adultery and any children that this woman had would be considered illegitimate, damaging their lives as religious Jews.
Jewish religious women in this position cannot move on with their lives, being forced by their husbands into a situation of limbo and powerlessness for years or decades, even missing out on their child-bearing years. Of course, I hugely regret that this remains an issue which the rabbinical authorities have not been able fully to overcome on behalf of religious Jewish women, but I understand and fully respect that these are difficult points of Torah, Talmudic and Mishnaic law, and would not presume to have the legal knowledge to address the situation.
I am also aware that there is huge sympathy among the Jewish rabbinate for those affected. However, I hope that the Bill and our suggested amendments can help to provide support and possibly further encouragement or assistance for Jewish religious women in that position.
I shall briefly address the other amendments in this group. Amendment 168 seeks to amend Section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015. This Act’s introduction of the new criminal offence of coercive and controlling behaviour in intimate family relationships was a very positive step in recognising and responding to this form of abuse, which has a devastating impact on victims’ lives. The amendment would specifically ensure that unreasonably preventing the dissolution of a Jewish religious marriage is included in the definition of that offence. It would add after subsection (5):
“For the purposes of subsection (2)(a),”
that if parties remain married under Jewish religious law, even if civilly divorced, they should be
“regarded as being connected in an intimate personal relationship.”
This would apply because they remain legally married under Jewish law and he still holds sway over her, whether or not they live together.
Amendment 169 says that the Secretary of State’s guidance relating to Clause 1 of this Domestic Abuse Bill or Section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 must recognise
“unreasonably preventing dissolution of a religious Jewish marriage”
against the wishes of the other partner as “controlling or coercive” behaviour. In these sad cases, coercive control commonly continues post-separation; we wish to ensure that the offence is recognised as extending, even when the couple is not living together. Economic abuse in connection with a get is also a form of coercive control that can be used post-separation, sometimes leaving victims with significant debts from trying to achieve their get, but we believe it should be included as an offence. It is not covered under the other offences such as stalking or harassment.
Amendment 170 stipulates that a court must take into account unreasonably impeding religious Jewish marriage dissolution when considering whether this is domestic abuse, and thus whether an offence has been committed under Section 76 or 76A of the Serious Crime Act, or whether domestic abuse support should be provided under Clause 55 of this Bill.
I thank the prospective domestic abuse commissioner, whose helpful briefing for Peers ahead of Committee welcomed these proposed amendments, stating the desire to ensure that the rights of Jewish women to end their religious marriage are included as part of the statutory definition on the grounds of domestic abuse by way of controlling and coercive behaviour, psychological abuse and economic abuse, where it is also a factor, as specified in these amendments.
I hope that the Government will engage further with us on these amendments to ensure, either by way of the amendments themselves or perhaps by secondary legislation or statutory guidance, that these victims can be included when considering domestic abuse in this country. They are not intended to set any precedent for any other religion’s marriage or divorce procedures; I hope that they will add further encouragement for recalcitrant religious Jewish husbands to free their former wives to continue their lives, and provide recognition of these women’s victimhood as well as support.
As legislators, we have a duty to do our utmost to protect those trapped in this way. As well as providing support to the victims, characterising the situation in British law as domestic abuse or criminal behaviour may be of assistance to the rabbinic courts. We hope that they will work with us to find a better resolution to this terrible agunah problem. I beg to move.