Kyrgyzstan's illegal polygamy

Despite being officially prohibited in Bishkek polygamous marriages proliferate, facilitated by shadow agencies that function on Islamic principles. Their activities are also supported by celebrities. But human rights activists also tell the other side: the increase in appeals from women who have fallen into this trap.

Bishkek (AsiaNews) - The number of polygamous marriages is growing in Kyrgyzstan, despite the fact that they are directly prohibited by law. As Radio Azattyk journalists have documented , the proliferation of polygamy is aided by numerous shadow marriage agencies, which function on the basis of "Islamic principles of family creation,"" promising males a second wife, and women help in settling down as second or third wives.

Messages such as "I agree to become a second wife," "I am looking for a man for a secret marriage," "I already have a wife, but to please Allah I am ready to marry a second time" appear in various segments of social networks. There is no shortage of advertisements from agencies offering services for "family formation according to Islamic principles," such as the agency Al-Khajat, on whose Instagram page one can find photographs of meetings with potential spouses, and videos in which clients fill out the necessary paperwork. They are often accompanied by the crucial question, "what do you think about polygamy?"

The activities of these agencies are also supported by famous personalities, such as the Kyrgyz singer Angelica, who says "if there was the first date, there will be the second, it's up to you." Users of these sites seem to be quite numerous, such as one of the interviewees, Majram (fictitious name), who a few years ago became a second wife through an agency, making the plan "after three dates with a married man." She relates that she consulted the website nikah.kg, after she had been looking for a husband for a year and a half, and was finally put in touch with the right one, whose first wife was ill, and with whom he could not have relations.

In conclusion, the man to whom Majram got married hid her not only from his first wife, but also from all the numerous relatives, however, everything changed when she gave birth to a child with Down syndrome. "When he learned that the child was not normal," Majram recounts, "his relationship with me changed dramatically, I was in the hospital and he never came to see me, he didn't call, he just disappeared, and eventually we divorced. Today the woman and the child have no rights, neither to the now ex-husband's property, nor to the possibility of receiving child support alimony, as the marriage is not recognized as official, and was celebrated religiously without civil registration.

According to the law passed by the parliament of Kyrgyzstan still 8 years ago, Muslim servants of worship are prohibited from celebrating nikakh if the spouses have not registered the marriage at the Zags civil office, but in mosques this prohibition is normally disregarded, without even hiding it. As the deputy-imam of the "April 7" mosque in Biškek, Taštemir Ešmatov, explains, "when we have a divorced man and a widow, we always celebrate the marriage, even without the consent of the first wife, if the marriage is still in place, although it is better to do it when she agrees."

Kyrgyz humanitarian activists report a large increase in appeals from women who have fallen into the trap of polygamous families. "First wives mostly come to us," explains Bubusara Ryskulova, head of the Sezim crisis center in Biškek, "and each one has her own particular story." There are women who run businesses together with their husbands but fail to produce children, and the husband does not divorce for fear of losing earnings and part of the property, trying to get his wife's consent to take a second one who succeeds in giving him the much-desired offspring. In such cases, often the fertile wife is then thrown out, without even letting her see the children she has procured.

Kyrgyz legislation leaves many loopholes to these solutions full of contradictions and injustices, as so many commentators say. Cohabitation and property sharing are prohibited, but when wives are left in different homes, it becomes difficult to prove violation of the law, and even more difficult to defend women's rights.