CAIRO: Cross-cultural marriages are a growing trend in Egypt. But while many succeed, unhappy endings seem to prevail especially when fathers start selling their daughters over coffee to foreign men.
To mark International Women’s Day, The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) in collaboration with the European Union, held a seminar attended by lawyers and social activists to discuss the controversial Article 5 of Law No. 103/1976 that governs the documentation of marriages between Egyptians and foreigners.
Marriage agents are increasing in Egypt’s rural areas and more poor and illiterate men are solving their financial problems through registered official marriage certificates, derided by rights activists as a cover to sell their daughters willingly or forcibly to foreign men for the right price.
As it stands, Article 5 of this law stipulates certain conditions on foreigners wishing to marry Egyptians: the foreign party must be present in person for the documentation of the union; the age difference between both parties should not exceed 25 years; a document detailing the foreigner’s background and giving reasons why his respective government is against this bond; and original birth certificates of both parties.
While this law may in theory give women some protection, in reality, many are left to suffer, explains Ibtesam Michael, head of the notary public in Egypt and member of the People’s Assembly.
“When some or all of these conditions can be overlooked due to a decision from the Minister of Justice or his representatives, we end up with a crisis situation, Michael said.
The whole process is neither monitored nor controlled and women are often forced or consent to marriages where the prospective husband is over 25 years older. In fact, the age gap may sometimes reach 60 years, explained Michael, and often girls younger than the legal marriage age are given away to be used for organ trade and other shocking things.
Michael plans to put forth a proposal to the People’s Assembly to amend the article, stipulating the payment of LE 20, 000 for each year exceeding the 25 year difference.
However, women’s rights activists objected, saying that financial restraints will only ensure a better deal for the father who wants to sell her for the highest price.
Such an amendment will not only fail to protect the girl, but may backfire by encouraging orfi or unregistered marriages that will circumvent government intervention altogether and thus remove any legal protection the girl may have enjoyed.
Another change proposed by Michael is to give the woman the esma, the right to have a divorce as a precondition for all marriages to foreigners.
Rooted in Islamic tradition, this type of divorce gives both partners equal rights in without repealing the man’s ability to annul the marriage. It offers better protection for women who will no not suffer financially to secure their freedom, as is the case with “khula divorce for example, where women a required to pay back their dowry to finalize the process.
Another amendment recommended by Michael was to stipulate that both parties undergo a full medical checkup at a certified institution to avoid HIV/AIDS infections since a number of such cases have cropped up as a result of these unions.
Whereas legal changes are important, Mervat Abu Teeg, a lawyer and women’s rights activist, outlined the causes that lead to such marriages. Often, she said, young girls find no other way to overcome their tragic poverty and so aspiring to a better life abroad, they willingly accept these unions.
Madiha El-Safty, professor sociology at the American University in Cairo (AUC), disagrees, claiming that the unrealistic ambitions of some girls are to blame for this phenomenon.
Yet, Abu Teeg retorts that “we cannot give women the right to choose if they have no awareness and are offered no legal protection
“It’s a holistic issue that involves politics, economics, sociology and culture that all need to be addressed together.
Another obstacle is the court culture in Egypt.
Courts are lagging behind due to a surplus of cases, and those that involve foreigners are even more complicated, suggests Abu Teeg. In legal circles, there is an unspoken prejudice against those who chose to “sell themselves to foreigners.
Experts agreed that poverty and lack of awareness were the two main causes of this social ill, but they also highlighted the stigma of spinsterhood as an impetus for families to sell their daughters in any marriage rather than no marriage at all.
