Tourist marriage in Yemen [Archives:2005/871/Reportage]

By Nabil Al-Osaidi
For Yemen Times
Rua'a, a seventeen-year-old secondary school student in Ibb, used to be dodged by a new comer from one of the neighboring countries, until he succeeded to convince her to marry him. Then she lost her most precious belonging, her virginity. She said that this man used to follow her in his luxurious car after she goes out of school, until she reaches her home. When she told her family, they decided to beat him. They were surprised to find him knocking at their door, asking her hand in marriage. They didn't believe it, that such a wealthy man would come to propose to their daughter. When they agreed, he flooded the family members with presents. Those presents were only trifles had it not been to the poor nature of her family.

One day he asked her father that his fiance would accompany him to buy furniture for the new house, but he took her to his flat instead. He raped her there and disappeared, with no return.

Another Yemeni Rua'a was also a victim of the tourist marriage. She has a child of a father that she knows nothing about, since the honeymoon.

She said that, an in-coming man tried to seduce her, but when he didn't succeed in that; he wooed her from her family. He gave them a high dowry and luxurious furniture. They spent a month together in a hired flat, and then he disappeared. A third Rua'a was also deserted by a husband after they spent the honey moon in one of the border towns.

Adolescents are the most vulnerable

These examples of marriage take place almost every week now. It is the type of marriage that takes place between a wealthy Gulf citizen and a Yemeni girl for a brief period. The basic factors of marriage, such as the dowry, and the family agreement are often observed in these marriages, it lacks the constituents of an ideal marriage that aims at making a family.

Dr. Fuad Hamoud Al-Shibami, a professor at Ibb University conducted a research on this phenomenon. As there are no exact statistics on this matter, he chose a radium sample of about 40 of the victims in Ibb governorate in urban and rural areas. His research is titled, “social and Psychological impact of the tourist marriage”. He pointed out that the victims of this sort of marriage are about 38% of those whose ages are (20-24). The second sample constitutes 35% of the victims. Their ages are (15-19). 20% are those who are between (29 years and elder). He mentioned nothing of the other 7%.

As for the sample (15-19) of the victims, the professor said that those summer husbands have a common factor of choosing their preys from among this young sample because of the vigor and vivacity that they possess. They seek the physical enjoyment rather than social, ethical or human responsibilities.

The study divided the summer husbands into two categories. The first one of those is of old age Gulf businessmen who are escaping from the hell of their dominating wives, who often tease them. Their Gulf marriages are often tribal ones that are devoid of any love or respect, according to this study. The second category is of the Gulf youth, whose intellectual and physical activities were set up due to a number of factors, on top of them the family harassment and sometimes family incoherence, in addition to abundance of wealth and low cultural abilities.

Poor urban girls of the middle classes

The study reveals that 38% of those summer husbands prefer the working women who are in their 20s, because they are mature and often obsessed with the idea of their Prince Charming.

35% of those summer husbands prefer the young ones that they can seduce and tempt. 27% of those are the ones who are fond of the beauty of their victims that is described to them by matchmakers (khatibah), as the researcher said.

As for the residence of the victims of these marriages, the findings indicate that 92.2% of these live in urban areas, while 7.5 of them live in the rural areas.

The indication of this points out that the husbands prefer urban areas, and that the lure of cities often contributes to the seduction of the girls who are always longing for better life.

As for the financial level of the sample, the study reveals that 57.5 of them are from the middle class. There comes after it, with a big gap, the poor families that constitute 30%. The rich families constitute only 12.5%. The researcher assures that poverty is the main reason for this phenomenon that makes the families accept this sort of marriage.

The Illiteracy and disintegration of family

There are other sides that the researcher tackled in his field study. Of these are the tables that reveal the social level of the family. The study shows that the majority of these are the victims of family disintegration. On top of these is the death of one of the parents, which constitutes 25.5%, divorce 17.5%, living with a stepfather 7.5%, and father immigration 7.5%. The table also reveals the education level of the parents. It indicates that 57.5% can read and write, 30%% are illiterate. 12.5% are those who have basic or secondary school education.

As for the reasons of the marriage; the answers came as follows:

This sort of marriage is not against the religious principals. There come after that the little chances of marriage. High dowries are also among the reasons. Family problems also contribute to this problem. At the end of these reasons comes the ignorance of parents of the aims of this marriage.

Dr. Al-Shibami thinks that the direct reasons according to their importance are characterized by the longing of girls to live in a better standard of living, with the in-coming husbands. Girls also think that this marriage doesn't contradict the Sharia law. Other reasons are; the social pressure, besides the fact that they are sometime deprived of their rights to choose their husbands.

Dr. Shibami pointed out in his study, which was presented in Ibb's university, on the phenomenon of the tourist law, that presents that are given by the rich Gulf husbands is one of the major reasons

Putting an end to the phenomenon

A number of social academicians and legal personalities, who participated in this debate, demanded that this phenomenon should be stopped. They called the civil societies and other bodies to contribute to raising awareness of the community to fight this sort of marriage, which is noticed in number of governorates, especially Ibb.

The recommendations emphasized the role of universities and the research centers on studying the social problems. Among these are the high dowries.

According to last year statistics, the ministry of interior has issued 826 Yemeni men and women agreements to marry foreigners, 657 of these are Yemeni women who married foreigners, 96 of them are Yemeni males who married foreigners. The statistics showed that 576 Yemeni women married Arab men.37 Yemeni women married Europeans and 27 Americans. 15 of them married Asians and two married Africans.

Physiological, social and psychological influences

The summer marriage has taken other trends that have serious effects, not in the least are those social and psychological ones. Contraction of AIDS is expected, according to media reports, especially that the new comers that carry AIDA have no chance to marry in their communities. The neighboring countries compel their citizens to submit to medical tests that show that they are AIDS-free.

Reports pointed out that the tourist marriage could transfer AIDS, as the government doesn't take any measures to combat this disease.
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