This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. The marriage conditions, including the amount of the dowry, are discussed between the man and the woman's family (ibid.). If the man is acceptable to the family, he then meets his potential bride at an official engagement ceremony, where, should all agree to the marriage, a date is set for the ceremony (ibid.). As for the procedure involved, the man fills out an application and meets with the family once they have examined his background (ibid. More than 40 families seeking assistance in getting their daughters married had registered with the service and, within two months of opening, the office had facilitated 10 unions ( Arab News ). In May 2005, Arab News reported the creation of a marriage services office where marriage-minded men are put in contact with families whose daughters are available for marriage (). have now become somewhat wobbly as one in four marriages end in divorce and young people more often feel the need to get to know their partner" before the wedding day (29 June 2004).ĪNSA also reported that "Saudi families demand money from their daughters' future husbands" and that marriage in the country "is usually conducted as a commercial deal which has just become too expensive," prompting many Saudi men to look abroad for a partner (26 Sept. The Houston Chronicle reported that conservative Saudis believe that allowing women to drive would be detrimental to the traditional practice of arranged marriage (19 June 2005).Īn ANSA article indicated that under the "rigid" traditions of arranged marriages, "couples are banned from knowing or meeting each other," yet "he traditional pillars. 3).Īccording to The Globe and Mail, "rranged marriages, often with cousins, are still the norm" in Saudi Arabia, although "relations between the sexes are changing" (9 July 2003 see also IED/HLP 20 Mar. In May 2005, The Jerusalem Post reported that the American-born daughters of Pat Roush, kidnapped by their Saudi-born father when they were just seven and three years of age and who are now both in their twenties, "were wedded in arranged marriages to Saudi men" ( see also IED/HLP 20 Mar. The Saudi Gazette, citing an article by the Arabic newspaper Al-Watan, recounted that a young woman, divorced after her first forced marriage and refusing to enter a second contracted by her family, brought her case before a number of judges and religious leaders who informed her that the marriage contract was not valid and "must be revoked" (15 July 2003). 2005).Īccording to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), "he high number of forced marriages in Saudi Arabia is believed to be a factor in the country's steep divorce rate" (12 Apr.
According to the Associated Press (AP), this is an "unprecedented stand" on the part of the mufti, who holds the rank of minister in the country's government (12 Apr. In April 2005, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh, Saudi Arabia's grand mufti, declared forced marriage to be against Islamic law and also said "those responsible for it should be jailed" (BBC 12 Apr. A history professor at King Saud University, quoted in The Straits Times, said that "n the north and south of the country, forced marriage is a big issue" (). The sources consulted by the Research Directorate provided limited information on forced and arranged marriages in Saudi Arabia, whereas information on whether arranged marriages are limited to a particular religious or social group was not found.Īccording to The Saudi Gazette, women are still forced into marriage by their families, who "loo down on marriage outside the family circle" (15 July 2003). Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, OttawaĬanada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Saudi Arabia: Forced and arranged marriages people who arrange the marriages whether such marriages take place within the extended family the age of couples who are married through forced and arranged marriages whether one can refuse an arranged marriage whether arranged marriages are limited to a particular religious or social group (2003-2005), 7 October 2005, SAU100598.FE, available at: Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
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