Al-Madina newspaper

ACCORDING to its monthly report, the Ministry of Justice in the month of Safar recorded 10,593 marriage contracts all over the Kingdom while 4,776 divorce certificates were issued in the country over the same month.

About 46 percent of these cases were in different areas in Makkah and Riyadh provinces.

The data related to divorce made available by the ministry in periodic statistics indicates that it is on the rise year after year.

The rate of divorce reached 46 percent of the total number of marriages. This means that half of the marriages are likely to end up in failure. The statistics also showed that 60 percent of marriages failed in the first year itself.

The aftermath of divorce is painful, both at the individual and national level. Divorce can lead to an increase in crime because we can see that 80 percent of the children admitted to juvenile homes belong to divorced parents. We can see that most of the women included in the social security schemes are divorcees.

Divorce is a factor in instigating discord between individuals in society. The development of technology and social media played an important role in rising the rate of divorce and widening the gap between family members.

There are many causes for divorce and this is not the place to fix the blame on the husband or wife. In an attempt to lower the percentage of divorce in Saudi society, many people have called for organizing training sessions for couples who are about to get married.

The issue of divorce has become so grave that some people went as far to demand the issuance marriage permits to prospective couples after making the attendance at the training sessions a condition for such permits.

The purpose of issuing the permit is to make sure that the couple attend and pass the courses, and prove that they are capable of starting a home and bear the family responsibility.

This responsibility is not of a financial nature alone but is also the ability to amicably resolve with small family issues, especially at the beginning of the marriage.

We find some departments asking for a driving license while some professions require a license to practice. Marriage is more important than any of these professions because it forms the family that produces healthy and successful individuals who will serve the country and society.

I think there should be a special permit to authorize marriage, which will hopefully reduce this alarming ratio of divorce and will also help keep our society strong and intact in the aftermath of divorce.