Parliament discusses foreign marriages [Archives:2005/853/Local News]

SANA'A, June 19- In its session held on Sunday, the Parliament ordered the Islamic Sharia Committee to look into the phenomenon of the foreign marriages that spread in Yemen over the last few days.

This follows several warnings by Newspapers, academics and social specialist of the dangerous consequences of the marring Yemeni girls to tourists mainly during summer holidays.

Ibb University recently held a symposium including 17 papers for discussing the phenomenon and suggesting some possible solutions for it.

A recent scientific study indicated that a high percentage of Yemeni girls between 15 and 24 were reported to have been married to foreign tourists.

The study confirmed that the foreigners who marry Yemeni girls are either aging or businessmen mostly from the Gulf countries. Some of them are pleasure-seekers and favor to make a temporary marriage during vacations.

The study indicated that 30% of the girls who marry these foreign tourists are secondary school graduates, 22.5% have primary school certificates and 17.5% have preparatory school certificates while 12.5% are university graduates.

The phenomenon of these foreign tourist marriages in Yemen is attributed to poverty and the vulnerable economy of some Yemeni families.
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