Gulf | Saudi Arabia
Saudi Shura bid to stem divorce rate
In a bid to contain increasing marriage break-ups in Saudi Arabia, the Shura Council is considering a new law to stem reckless divorces.
- By Mariam Al Hakeem, Correspondent
- Published: 00:08 July 14, 2008
Riyadh: In a bid to contain increasing marriage break-ups in Saudi Arabia, the Shura Council is considering a new law to stem reckless divorces.
Dr Talal Bakri, head of the committee for family affairs at the Shura Council, said the council will soon start deliberations on various provisions of the draft law.
"There is a provision in the law that prevents a man from pronouncing divorce in the absence of his wife. Another provision in the law says divorce will be valid if it was registered at any one of the courts in the kingdom in the presence of the estranged couples," he said.
Speaking to reporters, Dr Bakri said some people resort to reckless pronouncements of divorce, not even informing their wives.
"Later, they send papers of divorce to the wives, to their utter shock. There were also cases of sexual intercourse with the divorced women," he said.
According to Dr Bakri, the new law is aimed at addressing the problems related to reckless divorces that are highly common in most parts of the kingdom.
Under the law, every Saudi citizen who seeks divorce, must inform his wife of the decision.
"Such a law to address the personal affairs of individuals will help address a grave problem facing Saudi society," he said while noting that the Shura Council had received petitions from several Saudi divorcees in which they complained that they were divorced without their knowledge.
According to an earlier report, the number of young divorcees is increasing at an alarming rate in the kingdom. Nearly 62 per cent of marriages in the western region end in divorce, with a large percentage of those being less than 25 years of age.
There are more than 1.5 million spinsters in Saudi Arabia, women who missed the optimum age of marriage.
Divorced for 17 times
Al Jawhara Al Anqari, head of the committee for family affairs at the Saudi National Human Rights Society, backed the move towards a new law to contain the widespread practice of divorces in the Saudi society.
She said several Saudi women have approached the committee with complaints that they were divorced suddenly. She cited the example of a 38-year old woman called Hind Umm Mohammad.
Hind, who has four sons, complained that her husband pronounced divorce 17 times in the 9 years of their marriage. "He pronounced divorce even for silly matters every now and then. At last I approached a court seeking separation of marriage," Hind said in her complaint.
When the judge asked the husband about the pronouncement of divorce, he said he uttered only one divorce. The judge allowed him to live with Hind. Al Anqari asked the judge to let her end the marriage.
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