Concern at Unregistered Marriages in Kyrgyzstan
Campaigners say religious-only marriage ceremony offers no legal protections to wives.
Concern at Unregistered Marriages in Kyrgyzstan
Campaigners say religious-only marriage ceremony offers no legal protections to wives.
The increasing trend for young women in Kyrgyzstan to enter into unofficial marriages leaves them vulnerable to abuse and discrimination, say rights groups.
Members of parliament met local officials, clerics, police and right activists on May 26 to discuss draft legislation which would mean a religious wedding could only go ahead if the couple had first obtained a marriage license from the state registry office.
Weddings conducted according to the Muslim rite are not recognised under Kyrgyz law, and partners must also go through the state registry ceremony before both can benefit from the legal rights that come with married status.
A study which the national Red Crescent Society conducted in March indicated that four out of ten marriages in southern Kyrgyzstan are not officially registered. The survey was part of an advocacy campaign by the Red Crescent, which is urging people to register marriages with the state.
A separate set of figures from the government’s statistical office show that in the south, half of all young women between the ages of 15 and 19 who give birth are not legally married.
The practice of Islam has traditionally been stronger in southern Kyrgyzstan, and it is standard practice to have one’s marriage blessed by a mullah, in a ceremony called “nikah”.
In former years, couples would also have gone through the civil ceremony as a matter of course. This is fading as many people in the south no longer see a need to register on top of their religious wedding.
In some cases, it would be impossible anyway because the bride is a second or third wife, or is underage. Polygamy is illegal under Kyrgyzstan’s secular laws.
According to rights activist Abdumanap Rajapov, some couples will go to the marriage registry on the birth of their first child, so as to avoid complications, but others will carry on as before.
Since wives in this situation are not married in the eyes of the state, their rights to a share of household assets in the event of break-up are greatly reduced.
“These figures indicate that the situation is very serious,” said Farida Avazova, head of the government committee for family affairs and women in Osh region, commenting on the results of the Red Crescent poll.
Rights activists and local officials say women whose husbands divorce them according to traditional religious practice – a simple matter of saying a few words – find themselves isolated, with no legal protections for themselves, ostracised by relatives and neighbours, and with few ways of supporting themselves and any children.
When Mukaram met her future husband two years ago, at the age of 25, she agreed to his marriage despite knowing he already had a wife.
“At the beginning, everything was good – the courtship and promises of good and secure life. He was 20 years older, and he told me his wife was sick and dying,” she recalled.
Mukaram was persuaded to go through the Muslim ceremony, with the promise that civil registration would follow later.
“He did not leave his first wife as he said he couldn’t do that,” she said. “Nor did I insist on it strongly.”
Mukaram’s husband eventually abandoned her and went off to Russia with his first wife.
Already in the advanced stages of pregnancy, Mukaram found herself alone, with no money and no job. Her own family would not have her back.
When the baby was born, she considered giving it up to a state children’s home, but in the end could not bring herself to do so.
The children’s home put her up for a while she sorted out work and accommodation, and she was able to get a live-in job as a home help with a family.
Apart from polygamous marriages, another common reason for avoiding the state registry is because the bride is under 18.
“Very often the nikah ritual is performed because the bride has not reached the official marriageable age,” said human rights activist Abdubali Khalilov.
The civil code does allow for exceptions where marriage can be allowed at 16, but this has to be approved in advance by the local state authorities, which obviously does not apply when they are not consulted.
Khalilov knows of cases where girls as young as 15 have been married according to the religious rite.
“Of course, the marriage has not been registered, and the Muslim ceremony alone was conducted because the bride was not even 16,” he said.
The children from unregistered marriages which break up are also vulnerable.
“They live in a one-parent family, they are doomed to poverty and brought up under adverse circumstances,” said Lilia Ismanova, who heads Meerban (“Kindness”), a crisis centre for victims of domestic violence in Osh region. “This will affect the way their personality develops.”
Nor is it easy for mothers to gain any acknowledgement of responsibility from their divorced husbands.
According to Muhayo Abduraupova, a lawyer from the Osh-based Advocacy Centre for Human Rights, “Women have to endure various humiliations and insults when trying to prove their former husband is the father of their child.”
Daud Aby-Uuly, a Muslim theologist, says men are deceiving themselves if they think a religious ceremony frees them from responsibilities. Under Islamic law, he said, husbands are obliged to provide for spouses and children after the marriage has ended.
Clerics in southern Kyrgyzstan say they are only doing their job, and have no right to refuse to conduct the marriage rite for consenting couples.
Some mosques issue their own wedding certificates, but these carry no legal weight and are not recognised by state officials.
The Red Crescent, local government and women’s rights activists are now trying to get the Civil Code and the Family Code changed to make it mandatory to register a marriage with the state when a couple go through a religious wedding.
“In Soviet times, clerics could conduct a Muslim wedding only when an official marriage certificate was produced, said Svetlana Shermatova, head of the Red Crescent office for southern Kyrgyzstan, in remarks quoted by the Ekho Osha newspaper on May 23.
“We are proposing that parliament introduce this [same] requirement into civil and family law, to make clerics who conduct Muslim weddings in breach of the rules accountable for their actions.”
According to Dilfuza Murasheva, the Red Crescent’s coordinator in southern Kyrgyzstan, the group is working with local elected councils to lobby for the changes to the law to go to parliament.
Toktokan Mambetova, who heads Janyl Myrza, a crisis centre for vulneralble groups including women and orphans in the southern region of Batken, said action was already being taken at community level there.
A local commission consisting of elders, women’s groups and elected councillors has agreed to impose a penalty of between 115 and 230 US dollars on any mullah found to be marrying couples without having seen evidence of legal registration.
Some argue that even if the legislative changes go through, they will not take root unless they are accompanied by a campaign to change popular attitudes, which clearly do not see value in the state marriage registration system at the moment.
“Changes to the law won’t produce tangible results until people change their awareness and view of this issue,” said Aby-Uluu. “Educational work is needed, above all else.”
Members of parliament met local officials, clerics, police and right activists on May 26 to discuss draft legislation which would mean a religious wedding could only go ahead if the couple had first obtained a marriage license from the state registry office.
Weddings conducted according to the Muslim rite are not recognised under Kyrgyz law, and partners must also go through the state registry ceremony before both can benefit from the legal rights that come with married status.
A study which the national Red Crescent Society conducted in March indicated that four out of ten marriages in southern Kyrgyzstan are not officially registered. The survey was part of an advocacy campaign by the Red Crescent, which is urging people to register marriages with the state.
A separate set of figures from the government’s statistical office show that in the south, half of all young women between the ages of 15 and 19 who give birth are not legally married.
The practice of Islam has traditionally been stronger in southern Kyrgyzstan, and it is standard practice to have one’s marriage blessed by a mullah, in a ceremony called “nikah”.
In former years, couples would also have gone through the civil ceremony as a matter of course. This is fading as many people in the south no longer see a need to register on top of their religious wedding.
In some cases, it would be impossible anyway because the bride is a second or third wife, or is underage. Polygamy is illegal under Kyrgyzstan’s secular laws.
According to rights activist Abdumanap Rajapov, some couples will go to the marriage registry on the birth of their first child, so as to avoid complications, but others will carry on as before.
Since wives in this situation are not married in the eyes of the state, their rights to a share of household assets in the event of break-up are greatly reduced.
“These figures indicate that the situation is very serious,” said Farida Avazova, head of the government committee for family affairs and women in Osh region, commenting on the results of the Red Crescent poll.
Rights activists and local officials say women whose husbands divorce them according to traditional religious practice – a simple matter of saying a few words – find themselves isolated, with no legal protections for themselves, ostracised by relatives and neighbours, and with few ways of supporting themselves and any children.
When Mukaram met her future husband two years ago, at the age of 25, she agreed to his marriage despite knowing he already had a wife.
“At the beginning, everything was good – the courtship and promises of good and secure life. He was 20 years older, and he told me his wife was sick and dying,” she recalled.
Mukaram was persuaded to go through the Muslim ceremony, with the promise that civil registration would follow later.
“He did not leave his first wife as he said he couldn’t do that,” she said. “Nor did I insist on it strongly.”
Mukaram’s husband eventually abandoned her and went off to Russia with his first wife.
Already in the advanced stages of pregnancy, Mukaram found herself alone, with no money and no job. Her own family would not have her back.
When the baby was born, she considered giving it up to a state children’s home, but in the end could not bring herself to do so.
The children’s home put her up for a while she sorted out work and accommodation, and she was able to get a live-in job as a home help with a family.
Apart from polygamous marriages, another common reason for avoiding the state registry is because the bride is under 18.
“Very often the nikah ritual is performed because the bride has not reached the official marriageable age,” said human rights activist Abdubali Khalilov.
The civil code does allow for exceptions where marriage can be allowed at 16, but this has to be approved in advance by the local state authorities, which obviously does not apply when they are not consulted.
Khalilov knows of cases where girls as young as 15 have been married according to the religious rite.
“Of course, the marriage has not been registered, and the Muslim ceremony alone was conducted because the bride was not even 16,” he said.
The children from unregistered marriages which break up are also vulnerable.
“They live in a one-parent family, they are doomed to poverty and brought up under adverse circumstances,” said Lilia Ismanova, who heads Meerban (“Kindness”), a crisis centre for victims of domestic violence in Osh region. “This will affect the way their personality develops.”
Nor is it easy for mothers to gain any acknowledgement of responsibility from their divorced husbands.
According to Muhayo Abduraupova, a lawyer from the Osh-based Advocacy Centre for Human Rights, “Women have to endure various humiliations and insults when trying to prove their former husband is the father of their child.”
Daud Aby-Uuly, a Muslim theologist, says men are deceiving themselves if they think a religious ceremony frees them from responsibilities. Under Islamic law, he said, husbands are obliged to provide for spouses and children after the marriage has ended.
Clerics in southern Kyrgyzstan say they are only doing their job, and have no right to refuse to conduct the marriage rite for consenting couples.
Some mosques issue their own wedding certificates, but these carry no legal weight and are not recognised by state officials.
The Red Crescent, local government and women’s rights activists are now trying to get the Civil Code and the Family Code changed to make it mandatory to register a marriage with the state when a couple go through a religious wedding.
“In Soviet times, clerics could conduct a Muslim wedding only when an official marriage certificate was produced, said Svetlana Shermatova, head of the Red Crescent office for southern Kyrgyzstan, in remarks quoted by the Ekho Osha newspaper on May 23.
“We are proposing that parliament introduce this [same] requirement into civil and family law, to make clerics who conduct Muslim weddings in breach of the rules accountable for their actions.”
According to Dilfuza Murasheva, the Red Crescent’s coordinator in southern Kyrgyzstan, the group is working with local elected councils to lobby for the changes to the law to go to parliament.
Toktokan Mambetova, who heads Janyl Myrza, a crisis centre for vulneralble groups including women and orphans in the southern region of Batken, said action was already being taken at community level there.
A local commission consisting of elders, women’s groups and elected councillors has agreed to impose a penalty of between 115 and 230 US dollars on any mullah found to be marrying couples without having seen evidence of legal registration.
Some argue that even if the legislative changes go through, they will not take root unless they are accompanied by a campaign to change popular attitudes, which clearly do not see value in the state marriage registration system at the moment.
“Changes to the law won’t produce tangible results until people change their awareness and view of this issue,” said Aby-Uluu. “Educational work is needed, above all else.”
