Doha, January 11 (QNA) - The Doha International Family Institute (DIFI), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, launched an advocacy campaign calling for mandatory programs for those soon to get married.
This campaign came as a result of a group of studies conducted by the Institute on global and regional best practices related to evaluating the impact of such programs and the official statistics on divorce rates in Qatar and the programmatic solutions for them.
During the launch event held in the Multaqa building in Education City, DIFI's Executive Director Dr. Sharifa Al Emadi spoke about the high divorce rates in Qatar pre-wedding and during the first year of marriage. The Institute conducted numerous studies to find out the reasons for the collapse in the early years of marital relations, young people's values, and their knowledge of family before and after marriage, she explained.
Dr. Sharifa reviewed the causes of early divorce, most of which are psychological, social, financial, cultural, behavioral, and ethical, stressing the importance of developing rehabilitation programs for those about to get married and making them compulsory before marriage to address the causes of imbalance in family relations, the early collapse of marriage in its early stages, and develop an educational curriculum targeting adolescents and youth in schools and universities.
She warned of the need to develop non-stereotypical awareness campaigns suitable for the digital age targeting the youth to reconsider the arrangements for engagement and premarital acquaintance while strengthening the societal role through the media, social communication, and mosques about the elements of a happy marriage, and discussing the challenges that face the family in its early years and how to overcome it.
She also stressed the importance of strengthening the scientific and research discourse by publishing the results of specialized studies in a simplified manner and involving young people in talking about them and discussing them with specialists, as well as supporting partnerships between various governmental and non-governmental parties under the supervision of the authorities concerned with women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities' affairs.
Dr. Sharifa Al Emadi explained that the DIFI conducted a survey, in cooperation with the League of Arab States, on evaluating marital relations during the first five years of marriage in the Arab world, in which 19 countries participated. The results showed that the top reasons for early divorce are incompatibility, differences in temperament, issues with personality and emotional differences, economic problems, and interference between the spouses' families, among other things.
The study conducted on the perceptions of young people in Qatar and their experiences of a happy and sustainable marriage in cooperation with Qatar University concluded the importance of respecting customs and traditions, expressing love and affection, participating in financial responsibility, raising children, mutual respect, honesty and understanding and other personal qualities and traits that a person should enjoy.
Regarding her perception of the form of the compulsory premarital program, the Executive Director of DIFI pointed out the need to form a committee of specialists from different parties to come up with a program related to all religious, cultural, financial, psychological, and social aspects and to be offered by specialists and obtain a license before the marriage contract. After its implementation, impact studies should be conducted for this program to develop it and find out the extent of its benefit to society. She warned of the need to move quickly in this direction to protect the family and society.
Dr. Sharifa Al Emadi praised the great support that the institute receives from the state and its interest in its studies and their results, taking appropriate decisions that take into account these results. The institute produces a set of recommendations and advocates for and invites all specialists who agree or disagree with them to discuss and evaluate them and to prepare the community for such programs and studies.
According to official statistics issued by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA), most divorces among Qataris occur during the first years of marriage, as 42 percent of divorce rates occur during the first year, rising to 58 percent within 4 years, and 22 percent of divorce rates occur before consummation, these are normal rates when compared to global and regional statistics.
During the launch of the campaign, the DIFI held an interactive dialogue session that included interventions from specialized guests and young people to support and advocate this campaign and discuss the method of implementation, reviewing the experiences of other countries and how they dealt with the phenomenon of divorce, highlighting the experience of Malaysia in this field, which established an integrated unit to provide a course to rehabilitate those about to get married and specialized centers that provide these courses and grant marriage licenses, which contributed to significantly reducing the divorce rates. (QNA)