Is Sharia a Trigger for Early Marriages?
The minimum legal age for marriage in Georgia is 18. According to the legislation, only with a court’s approval can people get married before that because of pregnancy or the birth of a child. But is this law implemented effectively?
In fact, it’s difficult to know exactly how many girls become wives and mothers at an early age in Georgia as there are no exact data about early marriages due to the high number of unregistered marriages.
Deputy Public Defender of Georgia, Ekaterina Skhiladze, says that legislation has been tightened. But there is no possibility to evaluate the positive changes in the practice, as the regulation is very new. It is also important that the legislative amendments be supported by campaigns aimed at raising public awareness and other measures supporting the implementation of the law in practice.
“Given the fact that registration of marriage has a particular impact on women's property rights, the Public Defender considers that it is important the Georgian legislation be reviewed and improved in this direction as well,“ Skhiladze says. “We may say that the public is not ready to implement such a change, but we should not forget the scale and the seriousness of the problem of early marriage.”
She added that according to the Ministry of Justice of the Public Services Development Agency, 265 registered marriages took place in total between persons of under 18 years old in 2015. According to the same data of the 2016 January – July period, only 1 case was reported. However, it should be noted that in 2016, from January until July, the Ministry of Justice has learned about 742 birth cases in which one or both parents were minors.
Sharia laws trigger early marriages
Mostly it is Muslims that apply for early marriages. Under the laws of Sharia, religious marriage is very important for bringing couples together. According to tradition, wedding ceremonies are held, but the marriages are usually never officially registered.
Samira Aliyeva is one women who experienced an early unregistered marriage. From the Marneuli region, she got married when she was just 16 years old. Samira didn’t want to get married. In fact, she was forced to get married by her mother for various economic and cultural reasons and Samira was abducted with the permission of her family.
“Local tradition states that if a girl is kidnapped, her parents don’t have to pay a dowry for their daughter. My family is poor, and that’s why they agreed and my husband abducted me,” she said. “A young bride is cheaper than dowry," she added.
But after some time, Samira left her husband due to violence.
“Now I’m living apart from my husband. We had only a religious marriage so I can’t ask anything of my husband because we have no official document and I have no child. My family doesn’t support me and life is hard for me.”
Sheikh of the 'Union of Georgian R. Igidov' emphasizes that it would be better to have a religious law regulating these marriages. But, he says, there should be no age limit.
“I don’t think there should be an age limit for marriages. But Sharia does not say to us people should marry at an early age- on the contrary; our holy book tells us that if a person is ready for marriage mentally, economically, physiologically and biologically, he/she can marry.”
A representative of 'Journalists Network for Gender Equality' project in Kvemo Kartli, S. Bayramova, believes unregistered early marriages are contrary to human rights.
“If people deviate from the obligation of civil marriage before religious marriage, this will lead to the abuse of children's and women's rights, especially regarding inheritance rights,” Bayramova says.
Nurana Mammad