JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA // The ministry of justice announced plans this week to regulate the marriages of young girls in Saudi Arabia, but observers are sceptical of the ministry's ability to set the age of majority at 18 because of huge resistance from religious institutions.
The minister of justice, Mohamed al Issa, told the Al Watan daily newspaper that his department is drawing up a list of recommendations for the regulation of the marriage of young girls that, among other things, would limit the control of the girl's legal guardian - thus giving her more choice over who she marries and when - and encourage the minimum age for marriage to be set at 18 .
Mr al Issa made his announcement after a Saudi judge this week refused for a second time to annul a marriage between an eight-year-old girl and a 47-year-old man.
The plan has been well received by rights activists, though few believe religious authorities who have power of veto over such bills will permit it to pass."I am happy to hear that the ministry of justice is conducting a study on underage marriages but I am not optimistic about the ability of the ministry to impose any regulations soon to end these marriages," said Saud Kateb, a Saudi professor and children's rights activist.
"The religious institution is resisting any attempt to define the age of majority at 18, and the results of the ministry of justice study are not obligatory [legally binding] for the country's top clerics," Prof Kateb said.
The majority age for women in Saudi is defined by puberty, which is linked to menstruation.
"I refuse to link girls' adulthood with menstruation as girls can get their period at different ages starting from eight years of age," Prof Kateb said.
Pressure from social activists to end child marriages led members of the Shoura Council - Saudi Arabia's parliament - to pass a resolution in November setting the age of majority at 18 for both men and women. And the ministry of health endorsed the council's views by stating that permitting girls to marry under the age of 18 could damage their health.
But Saudi Arabia's top cleric refused to accept either the resolution of the council or the recommendation of the health ministry.
"It is incorrect to say that it's not permitted to marry off girls who are 15 and younger," Sheikh Abdul Aziz al Sheikh, the kingdom's grand mufti, declared in January. "A girl age 10 or 12 can be married. Those who think she's too young are wrong and they are being unfair to her," he said.
With the country's top cleric taking such a stand, many believe it will be difficult to set the majority age at 18.
"If the grand mufti describes officials attempting to set the majority age at 18 as ignorant people, how will it be possible to change the marriage age in Saudi?" said Waleed abu al Khair, a Saudi lawyer and human rights activist.
Human rights groups in the kingdom have repeatedly voiced their opposition to child marriages and pushed for the age of majority for women to be raised to 18.
The National Society for Human Rights, a non-governmental Saudi organisation based in Riyadh, said in a report issued last month that the government must not allow girls under 15 to marry.
The former head of the kingdom's governmental human rights commission, Turki al Sudairi, characterised underage marriage as a human rights violation, saying it contravenes the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Saudi Arabia is a signatory.
Mr al Sudairi, who was removed from the post in February, called on the Saudi authorities to put an end to the practice, and to raise Saudi families' awareness of its negative consequences.
Under Sharia, a virgin woman needs the approval of her guardian, usually her father, to get married. Fathers cannot force daughters to marry, and the marriage must be consensual.
But under the Hanbali doctrine, which is applied in Saudi Arabia, the father can issue a marriage contract that can be terminated by the girl when she reaches puberty.
Mr al Khair said the Hanbali legal school, one of four major schools in Sunni Islam, gives the guardian complete control over the girl, and this is the source of many social and family problems in Saudi Arabia. "How can a girl who can't terminate a marriage contract be part of a marriage? This is a major contradiction in the Hanbali system," he said.
wmahdi@thenational.ae
Poacher
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Diriyah%20project%20at%20a%20glance
%3Cp%3E-%20Diriyah%E2%80%99s%201.9km%20King%20Salman%20Boulevard%2C%20a%20Parisian%20Champs-Elysees-inspired%20avenue%2C%20is%20scheduled%20for%20completion%20in%202028%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20The%20Royal%20Diriyah%20Opera%20House%20is%20expected%20to%20be%20completed%20in%20four%20years%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20Diriyah%E2%80%99s%20first%20of%2042%20hotels%2C%20the%20Bab%20Samhan%20hotel%2C%20will%20open%20in%20the%20first%20quarter%20of%202024%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20On%20completion%20in%202030%2C%20the%20Diriyah%20project%20is%20forecast%20to%20accommodate%20more%20than%20100%2C000%20people%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20The%20%2463.2%20billion%20Diriyah%20project%20will%20contribute%20%247.2%20billion%20to%20the%20kingdom%E2%80%99s%20GDP%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20It%20will%20create%20more%20than%20178%2C000%20jobs%20and%20aims%20to%20attract%20more%20than%2050%20million%20visits%20a%20year%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20About%202%2C000%20people%20work%20for%20the%20Diriyah%20Company%2C%20with%20more%20than%2086%20per%20cent%20being%20Saudi%20citizens%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
FIXTURES
All kick-off times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Brackets denote aggregate score
Tuesday:
Roma (1) v Shakhtar Donetsk (2), 11.45pm
Manchester United (0) v Sevilla (0), 11.45pm
Wednesday:
Besiktas (0) v Bayern Munich (5), 9pm
Barcelona (1) v Chelsea (1), 11.45pm
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
More from UAE Human Development Report:
Brief scores:
Southampton 2
Armstrong 13', Soares 20'
Manchester United 2
Lukaku 33', Herrera 39'
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%3Cp%3EAuthor%3A%20Diaa%20Jubaili%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EPages%3A%20180%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EPublisher%3A%20Deep%20Vellum%20Publishing%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Visa changes give families fresh hope
Foreign workers can sponsor family members based solely on their income
Male residents employed in the UAE can sponsor immediate family members, such as wife and children, subject to conditions that include a minimum salary of Dh 4,000 or Dh 3,000 plus accommodation.
Attested original marriage certificate, birth certificate of the child, ejari or rental contract, labour contract, salary certificate must be submitted to the government authorised typing centre to complete the sponsorship process
In Abu Dhabi, a woman can sponsor her husband and children if she holds a residence permit stating she is an engineer, teacher, doctor, nurse or any profession related to the medical sector and her monthly salary is at least Dh 10,000 or Dh 8,000 plus accommodation.
In Dubai, if a woman is not employed in the above categories she can get approval to sponsor her family if her monthly salary is more than Dh 10,000 and with a special permission from the Department of Naturalization and Residency Dubai.
To sponsor parents, a worker should earn Dh20,000 or Dh19,000 a month, plus a two-bedroom accommodation