• Text size  | | |
• Email this document
• Printable version

Fiji: Information on whether a Muslim can marry a Hindu, on the legal provisions for marriage, and on whether all marriages are performed by religious or civil authorities

For information on marriage patterns in Fiji and on the legal provisions for marriage, please refer to section 7, "Kinship, family and gender" of the IRBDC Cultural Profile on Fiji published in July 1991 under the title The Indo-Fijians: History, Culture, Social Structure.

According to an official of the Fiji delegation to the United Nations in New York, there are marriages between members of the Muslim and the Hindu-Fijian communities (11 May 1995). The official also stated that under the Marriage Act marriages could be performed by religious authorities or under civil authority, but the official could not provide any information on whether marriages between members of the Muslim and Hindu-Fijian communities would be performed by religious or civil authorities. Information on impediments for marriage between a Muslim and a Hindu in Fiji could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB.

On the issue of legal provisions for such marriages, a United Nations report states that religious or customary marriages are performed among Indian and Muslim communities and that "community customs and/or laws on divorce prevail" (1987, 83).

Further information on the above-mentioned topic could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB.

This response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this information request.

References

Fiji delegation to the United Nations, New York. 11 May 1995. Telephone interview with official.

United Nations. 1987. (ST/ESCAP/434). Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women in Asia and the Pacific. Bangkok: Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

Attachment

United Nations. 1987. (ST/ESCAP/434). Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women in Asia and the Pacific. Bangkok: Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, pp. 82-83.

Sources consulted

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Yearly. U.S. Department of State. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Critique: Review of the Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Yearly. New York: Lawyers Committee for Human Rights.

Encyclopedia of the Third World. 1992. Edited by George Thomas Kurian. New York: Facts on File.

Groffier, Ethel. 1987. Mariages et régimes matrimoniaux étrangers. Montréal: Editions claude Ananou.

Material from the Indexed Media Review (IMR) or country files containing articles and reports from diverse sources (primarily dailies and periodicals) from the Weekly Media Review.

On-line searches of news articles (NEXIS).

Oral sources.

Topics: Muslim, Hindu,