THE children of Bahraini women married to expatriates could soon be given the same rights as their Bahraini counterparts.

The Shura Council yesterday decided to include a new article into a government-drafted law that gives expatriate wives married to Bahrainis equal treatment.

However, parliament must first agree with the amendment before the proposal is given the go-ahead, as an earlier bill without the clause was approved by MPs last month.

If the amendment is approved, the children of Bahraini women will have to be permanent residents in order to benefit from equal rights.

The bill was referred back to the council’s women and child committee to turn the additional proposal into a proper article that could be incorporated without creating any ambiguity to the original law.

It allows expatriate wives the same treatment as their Bahraini counterparts in services such as government fees, education, health and an exemption from residency visa requirements.

Committee chairman Dalal Al Zayed said that the bill was something that many Bahrainis married to expatriate women were waiting for.

“In the end, it is the husband paying for the government services. So even if the wife is Bahraini or not the burden is on the same person,” he said.

“The current conditionsare unfair and are in breach of international human rights agreements Bahrain has signed, considering that Bahrainis have the right to marry whoever they like without being made to pay a penalty for choosing to marry a non-Bahraini.

“When we discussed the proposal with the Supreme Council for Women and the Bahrain Women Federation, they noted that Bahraini women married to non-Bahrainis were suffering more problems than those married to Bahrainis,” said Ms Al Zayed.

“She has to pay for her children’s residency, their education and health services and widows or those who divorced their expatriate husbands face more financial burden.

“There are 1,633 Bahraini wives married to non-Bahrainis and they have a total of 2,662 children.”

“I believe that as legislators we should vote for the inclusion of those children to make them feel at home because Bahrain is already their home and treating them otherwise is wrong.”