A/HRC/19/53 and policies and ensure that domestic violence laws include provisions to protect women‘s right to housing, including the right to privacy and security.‖ 18 22. The recognition that women‘s housing security is vital to their ability to leave a violent relationship is spreading, and efforts have been made at national level, resulting in the promulgation of new domestic laws. For instance, in Serbia, according to article 198(2) of the Family Law adopted in 2005, courts can issue an order for the removal of the perpetrator from family housing, and they can also order that victims of domestic violence be allowed to stay in family housing, in both cases regardless of the ownership of housing. 19 In Brazil, what has become popularly known as the ―Maria da Penha Law‖ (2006) allows for the removal of the abuser from the home. 20 Additionally, the Indian Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (2005) explicitly recognizes the right of women victims of domestic violence to reside in a shared household, and provides that ―every woman in a domestic relationship shall have the right to reside in the shared household, whether or not she has any right, title or beneficial interest in the same.‖ 21 In addition, the Act guarantees that a person suffering domestic violence ―shall not be evicted or excluded from the shared household or any part of it by the respondent [i.e. the abuser] save in accordance with the procedure established by law.‖ 22 23. Women‘s right to adequate housing is often denied or ignored within the broader context of family and marriage law. Equality in matters of inheritance is often denied for women and girls on the basis of custom and tradition, whether within the context of the death of a spouse, parent or other relative. This has important ramifications, as inheritance is a primary means by which wealth and resources are transferred within societies, as well as within families. To be excluded from the process of inheritance reinforces women‘s lack of autonomy and equality, and jeopardizes in a very direct way their right to adequate housing. 24. As awareness has grown, many countries have taken steps to amend their laws to ensure that women and girls are able to inherit housing, land and property on an equal basis with men and boys. In Sierra Leone, for example, equality in matters of inheritance is now provided for by a 2007 law,23 while the Registration of Customary Marriages and Divorce Act of 2007 (amended in 2009) recognizes the right of women to acquire and dispose of property in their own right, and to enter into contracts. 24 25. In applying the law, the courts also have a critical role to play. In Kenya, recent judicial decisions referencing the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 8 Ibid., section 5.6. Article 198(2) of the Family Law of the Republic of Serbia, 2005. Similar legal improvements have been noted in other countries of the region. In the Czech Republic, Act No. 135/2006 Coll. on Protection against Domestic Violence empowers the police intervening in domestic violence cases to ask the perpetrator to leave the household for ten days. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the 2005 Laws on the Protection from Domestic Violence, adopted respectively in its Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entities, both offer protection measures including removing the perpetrator from housing for a period of one to six months. Federal Law 11340, also known as the Lei Maria da Penha (Maria da Penha Law), of 7 August 2006. See Section 2, Article 22 on urgent protective measures. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, No 43 of 2005, 13 September 2005. See Section 17 of the Act, on the right to reside in a shared household. Ibid. The Devolution of Estates Act, 2007 [No. 21. 2007]. The Registration of Customary Marriage and Divorce Act, 2009 [No. 1 of 2009]. In India, the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act of 2005 removed provisions in the 1956 Hindu Succession Act which discriminated on the basis of gender.