Women's marital liberty and the missing negative right in article 23 of ICCPR

The article calls international attention to the need to augment the right to marry, which is the focus of Article 23 of ICCPR. While the current content of Article 23 refers only to the positive right to marry, it fails to acknowledge an important negative right regarding marriage. Specifically, there are many cases divorced women who are proscribed from marrying their partners. As a case study, I use the forbidden marriage of a divorced woman and a Cohen (a descendant of Jewish Priests) in Israel. In order to illustrate the plight experienced by women who wish to marry their beloved spouses and are restricted by law, I provide an auto-ethnography and share my own experience as a formerly divorcée who was not allowed to marry a Cohen. I conclude with sociological and philosophical insights into marital transgressions and offer suggestions for future advancement of women's marital and familial human rights.