Baby State

By way to the Foreign Policy daily update we learn that the Guardian has a story  describing a new law in UAE that requires mother to breast feed children until they are two years old.  My interest is heightened because (one) a brother lives there with his family, (two) the evolution (or lack thereof) of non-secular governments is interesting and  (three) breasts are important to me.

Excerpts from this article at the Guardian web site.

Social affairs minister warns it could mean that husbands sue wives who do not breastfeed.

The United Arab Emirates has passed a law requiring mothers to breastfeed their children until they are two years old. The clause was added to a children's rights law, but the social affairs minister, Mariam al-Roumi, said it raised the prospect of husbands suing wives who did not breastfeed.

"This part of the law can be a burden," Roumi was quoted as saying by the Emirati newspaper the National. "If the law forced women to breastfeed, this could lead to new court cases."

The Dubai-based group Out of the Blues, which supports mothers with postnatal illness, warned that the law could criminalise women when they are at their most vulnerable. "We are concerned that enacting a law that leaves mothers facing potential punishment could be a step too far," the group said.

Members of the UAE's federal national council, which passed the law, suggested wet nurses should be provided for children whose mothers had died or could not feed them.

"This is the right of every child for two years," Sultan al-Sammahi said. "If they do not have a mother or have been neglected, then they should get this right from someone else."

Another member, Ahmad al-Shamsi, said the law aimed to make breastfeeding "a duty and not an option" for able mothers. "This is part of raising a child. This is mandatory," he said. "Laws are not all about fines and penalties – some are also humane."

The law says all government offices must provide a nursery so working mothers can breastfeed, an existing regulation that has never been enforced.

Can sue the mother, that's rich.
My birth mother flew the coop when I was an infant, where is my recompense?
This subject has got to be a tough one for the liberals around the world.  Generally liberal support of Islamic world causes is standard, but this seriously encroaches on the rights of women. In Israel, women have rights that in many ways culturally exceed those in the United States, yet liberals continue to treat that country as a pariah. Female rights in the Muslim states are second to the men's rights, possibly trailing the rights of children and just ahead of goats.