Polygamy Debate is Re-Ignited

If Kyrgyzstan legalises polygamy, it could undermine accepted standards of family and anti-discrimination law as well as damaging the country’s image abroad, local commentators say.



Kyrgyzstan’s justice ministry has proposed abolishing article 153 of the criminal code, which makes polygamy punishable by up to two years in prison.



Justice minister Marat Kayipov explained to NBCentralAsia that abolishing penalties for men with more than one wife are part of a policy of making the criminal code more humane.



Kayipov argues that having two wives and supporting both families should not be classed as a crime.



When the issue was last raised in 1993, parliament voted not to legalise polygamy, but Roza Aknazarova, leader of El Yntymagy, the People’s Unity Party, thinks the outcome may be different this time.



“The country’s parliament consists exclusively of men, and they are likely to support the move,” she said.



Anara Niazova, the Kyrgyz president’s special representative in parliament for gender development issues, says that if parliament abolishes the article that makes polygamy a criminal offence, it should be banned under family and civil law, with hefty fines imposed as penalties.



Those who support decriminalisation argue that for many people, polygamy is a step they take through need rather than choice.



Ozubek Chotonov, director of the Centre for Morality, Ethics and Culture asked, “If a wife is unable to give birth [to more children] after the first one, is it better [for the husband] to abandon her and her son and marry another woman, or to support both her and his second wife? Why should [a man] be imprisoned for up to two years for this?”



The deputy ombudsman for human rights, Taalaibek Koshokov, says both the husbands who have taken a second wife for one reason or another, and their “unofficial wives” have rights that need to be considered.”They should have a chance to legalise their marriage,” he said.



Begish Aamatov, a former member of parliament, thinks there should be legislation setting out circumstances in this a man can take a second wife. “The law could state, for example, that when a wife is unable to have children because of illness, or has children but cannot look after her husband due to health problems, the man should have the right to marry another woman,” he told NBCentralAsia.



Polygamy is a contentious issue in Kyrgyzstan, and women’s organisations say that it discriminates against women, badly affecting them and their children.



According to Kalicha Umuralieva, head of the non-government group Prodessa, “Legalising polygamy will not resolve social and economic problems. The reverse - it will have a negative effect on family values, and will be psychologically damaging to women and children.”



Tamerlan Ibraimov, director of the Centre for Political and Legal Studies, added, “It will undermine the foundations of the family and have negative implications for the country’s international image.”



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)