BROKEN MARRIAGES

At the autumn session of the Milli Maclis, parliamentarians plan to re-examine the question of the marriage age for girls which is enshrined in the country's Family Code. Deputies intend to raise the minimum age by one year. The head of the parliamentary commission for social issues, Hadi Racabli, told R+ that although all the necessary laws to protect the rights of women are in place in Azerbaijan, society still tends to think that Azerbaijani women should not always be free in everything.

Artificial problem

"We must listen to public opinion. Moreover, the UN has often voiced its concern about girls being forced into marriage when they are still minors and about the existence of this problem in Azerbaijan. The problem is often said to be more acute in the south of Azerbaijan. It is said that 12-year-old girls are often forcibly married off here," the head of the parliamentary commission said.

However, Hadi Racabli and many deputies have a different opinion and think that the problem has been contrived. "Personally I think that there is no problem of forced early marriage in Azerbaijan. As a parliamentary representative for the southern regions of Azerbaijan I can say with full authority that there may be just one or two such cases in Lankaran, but no more. And even if a parliamentary majority increases the minimum marriage age for girls to 18, this will not have any effect. Because, I repeat, we do not have this problem. The subject has to be exaggerated to allow for projects, seminars and the like," Racabli said.

At present the Family Code sets the minimum marriage age for women at 17 and for men at 18, he said. This is fine. "According to state statistics, young people in Azerbaijan get married mainly between the ages of 16 and 30. The average marriage age is 20, while towards the ages of 24-26 the number of marriages drops off. There are very few marriages registered in Azerbaijan of young people between the ages of 13 and 16," Racabli said.

The deputy thinks that, on the contrary, it is not worth raising the marriage age for girls, as Azerbaijan may have a serious demographic crisis in 25 to 30 years' time since today many young people do not want to have more than two children in their family.

"These amendments are needed in states where there is a demographic surge, such as China. I do not include Azerbaijan in this list of countries, although deputies do not intend to ignore public opinion," the head of the parliamentary commission said.

"I don't want to get married, I want to study"

Throughout the past month the Dalga (Wave) youth organization has waged a campaign against early marriage. The campaign was held in all Azerbaijan's regions under the slogan "Dad, I don't want to get married, I want to study". The campaigners held training courses and seminars which said that often girls who married early automatically lost the opportunity to continue their studies in school and to get a higher education and became weak-willed and entirely dependent on their husbands. 

The State Committee for the Problems of Families, Women and Children acknowledges that there are instances in Azerbaijan of the rights of girls who are married off early being violated. "These girls can be between 11 and 12 years of age. It is absurd to deny the existence of this problem in Lankaran, Astara and Calilabad. And this means that parents who marry off their daughters at such a young age are criminals who have broken the law, the Family Code," Parvana Asgarova, an expert at the State Committee for the Problems of Families, Women and Children, says. Azerbaijan is one of those countries where the ancient tradition of betrothing children while they are in the cradle is still practised, she said. And it is very common to see teenage housewives in the southern regions. Many girls become mothers too early before they have managed to grow up completely and that marvellous period of life, childhood, is kept to a minimum.

Parvana Asgarova also said that early marriages are not recorded in state statistics so it is impossible to say that the problem does not exist in the country on the basis of figures. "Usually early marriages are calculated on the basis of the birth of a child in a family which records the age of the parents. But since current legislation allows a young couple to register their union officially only if the girl is 17 and the boy 18, they most often get married under Shari'ah law. And in this instance the marriages take place outside state statistics," she said.

No to domestic violence

Early marriages are often a cause of domestic violence, according to the deputy chairwoman of the Milli Maclis permanent commission on international relations and interparliamentary links, Gultakin Haciyeva. "This problem exists in Azerbaijan and as a result domestic violence leads to women appearing in the dock. Unable to stand the abuse and beatings, a woman has to take a desperate step - to murder her husband. In many regions of the country, especially in the south, it is rare to see girls attending senior classes in school. The practice of marrying off girls at the ages of 15 and 16 is widespread. That is why the Council of Europe is insisting that a law be passed in Azerbaijan today 'On tackling domestic violence'. Domestic violence is now especially widespread in the more remote districts of our country. In the final analysis the problem damages the gene pool and holds back societal development in the country. Unfortunately, a desire to cover this up dominates in society, including amongst women."

Haciyeva thinks that the Baku villages are not lagging behind and in some regions the education of girls is thought to be almost shameful. "By hiding this problem we are damaging the gene pool, for a woman who has been forced into marriage at a young age will give birth to physically weak and often mentally retarded children. These women themselves will become a problematic section of society in social and psychological terms. As a rule, they are not respected in the family, are often abused and insulted and gradually lose their self-esteem. You can judge for yourself how they will bring up their children. So all the talk that we do not have this problem, that it is 'not nice' to talk about domestic violence and 'against our mentality', is wrong. This problem must not be avoided, especially since the ancient Turkic peoples respected women."

The parliamentarian says that a discriminatory attitude towards women is not at all intrinsic to the Azerbaijani people and has been introduced to us from outside. As a result, we need to create the necessary legislative basis for the protection of women from domestic violence and to draw up mechanisms to ensure that existing legislation is functioning properly. All the more so since we have already passed the law "On gender equality" and have signed the UN convention banning discrimination against women. Social rather than administrative steps should be preferred. Rehabilitation centres and jobs should be created for women. The appropriate measures need to be taken in educational institutions too, tough measures need to be taken against anyone who does not allow their daughters to go to school and an increase in the number of female students from the regions needs to be encouraged.