Marriage is a socialized unity or a legal contract among the people and it creates relationship and family which is considered as a small mass in the society. This action creates a close relationship among the people and is attested from different angles and has also linked with the culture and society; similarly solidarity is also formed from the marriage party, which is known as matrimony.
From the Islamic point of view; the nature of marriage is a contract and agreement with special terms and conditions which are really interesting and desirable, based on the Islamic jurisprudence, marriages are considered sometimes as Mustahab, sometimes Sunah and in some cases it is considered necessary and essential.
The most important trait of the marriage is its legality; the fact is also that the marriage should be legal. All the steps of the marriage starting from union then to separateness and until death have its rules and regulations; therefore, all the marriages are stabled based on some traditional, legal and civil laws.
Afghanistan is one of the Islamic countries where the absurd customs and traditions are given priority as to the Islamic and civil laws; these absurd customs and traditions are ruling in this area from long period of time.
With the crash of Taliban’s dark regime and creation of three forces of the government including execution, legislature and judicial forces; Afghanistan could start another way among the human communities. Most of the issues which have affronted the people to the legal challenges are solved with creation, endorsement and signature of these laws by relevant authorities.
One of these issues is the registration of the marriages by the couples which is the first step of better living and creation of a family. In our country the registration of the marriages were not usual but fortunately in the recent years this has taken place in our society.
Now we will discuss about the positive effects of registering the marriages and also that why until now it was forgotten; I (Masoud Ansar) have conducted this interview with Ms. Shaima Qasim the head of the lawsuit and human rights department of Medica Afghanistan organization which is going to be presented to you dear audience.
Question: Ms. Qasim; how is the process of registering the marriages?
Answer: Thank you; in order to register the marriages through the courts the process is that the couples are going to the courts to get a form, the form is required to be filled by the scrivener and then attested by the local advocate of the area and then it should come back to the scrivener and the judge will announce the marriage of the couple officially in front of two witness.
It is to mention that the marriage certificate is prepared in three copies where one remains with the husband, the second with the wife and the third at the court.
Question: Well; in our country the couples are attempting to register their marriages when they plan to go outside the country and or if they face another problem, if these couples would like to register their marriages during their marriage day; how would be the process?
Answer: Sure, the process of registering the marriages is very simple for the couples; after the completion of the legal processes with two or three days they can get their official marriage certificate.
Question: Well; for the couples and then especially during their marriage, three days are also too much; based on your views, is there also the issue of bribes or not?
Answer: Certainly, the problem of bribes and corruption has become a culture in the governmental organizations, but the important thing is that we would like to work more on this process and encourage people to register their marriages. From the other side we have discussed with the marriage registration courts to make further facilities for the public in this regard to encourage them for this good work.
From the other side some of the couples were complaining about the prices of the marriage certificate, they were saying that previously the price of one marriage certificate was about 300 Afs but nowadays these marriage certificates are bought and sold at 500 to 600 Afs and regarding this issue we have also discussed with the marriage registration courts and we hope that the problem would be solved soon.
Question: What are the specifications of the marriage certificates that these are sold from 300 to 600 Afs; is there any specificity in the paper?
Answer: the prices of the marriage certificates are specified by the relevant courts and probably at the time of printing, some special products are used in it so that these have such prices.
Question: Based on your views; up to which extent the registration of marriages would get its popularity among the public of the society?
Answer: Certainly the process of registering the marriages is a new topic in our country and most of the people are not familiar with it and this work needs further awareness until the people understand about the benefits of it.
The Medica Afghanistan has put much effort in this regard to bring awareness among the people of the society through radio and television; the main reason behind this is to encourage people for this work. From the other side it is the responsibility of the Supreme Court and other relevant institutions to bring awareness among the people and further facilities in this regard.
Question: Since how long the marriage registration process has started and how successful and effective you are in giving awareness to the public?
Answer: In regard to the registration process of the marriages I would like to say that our organization started an investigation in 2004 regarding the family violence and other types of violence and we found that most of the violence are because of the underage marriages or forced marriages; and to avoid these kinds of problems the best way is to register the marriages and if this process is properly implemented then we would be able to remove the violence from the society because if the marriages are registered then many important rights and age of the girl would be mentioned in the registration process which may help in the reduction of violence.
Our organization found that based on the traditional society that we have; most of the people trust the words of the religious scholars, therefore we have trained 25 scholars in Kabul city and this process is continue in Mazar-e-Sharif, Herat and some other areas; based on the survey that we had in 2007, five percent of the people has attempted the registrations because of its frequent benefits.
Question: What points have been mentioned in the marriage certificates that could be proven useful for the couples in future; specially for the wives?
Answer: The conditions which are mentioned in the marriage certificate include the rights of keeping children, right of dowry, rights of education, rights of job and in total almost 24 aspects are covered. These issues are agreed and signed by both parties and in the area where they don’t have the agreement they can pause and discuss; because once the document is signed then the husband cannot run away from the rights of the wife mentioned in it.
Question: Well; if after the matrimony and during the married life because of some problems the husband violate one of the articles and do not let her wife to go to work and she should take care of the children, so what will happen?
Answer: This issue is referred to their future life; sometimes it causes of their separation and or leads to some other problems but it would be better if they respect to all of the articles from the beginning.
Question: How do you evaluate the work and activities of the responsible governmental institutions?
Answer: Unfortunately, it is to mention that the activities of the governmental organizations are not effective and we hope that they further struggle in this regard but it is to mention that the civil society organizations have done some activities in this regard which also need for struggles for betterment.
Question: As a last question; Ms. Qasim, what activities should be done so that people adopt this good culture?
Answer: Thank you; the ways which could be fruitful in this regard could be the awareness of people through media either pictorial or other types of the media and the most important could be the preaching of the religious scholars in this regard.
From the other side the civil society institutions and the governmental organizations should pay more attention in coordination of each other.
Thank you very much from all of you that you follow the discussions with us and good bye.
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