ABU DHABI // The UAE's "alarming" divorce rate is to be given urgent attention, with special emphasis on marriage counselling and social welfare, the Minister of Social Affairs said yesterday. Responding to concerns voiced in the Federal National Council (FNC), Mariam Mohammed Khalfan al Roumi promised wide-ranging research into the problem.
"From your concerns and comments on divorced women, I have come to realise the alarming and urgent need to address the cases of these women," she told a meeting of the FNC. At the same time, her ministry is trying to change its emphasis from financial assistance to social development programmes, but she conceded that it could be a challenge persuading welfare recipients to look for jobs. Several members had raised divorce-related issues, including the level of financial assistance available to divorcees and the shortage of counselling for couples with marital difficulties.
Mrs al Roumi said that while some statistics suggested there were 18,000 divorced and widowed Emirati women in the country, there had been no conclusive nationwide study. Figures released by the ministry in Sharjah last week indicated that the divorce rate in the emirate had gone up from 26 per cent in 2001 to 33.9 per cent in 2008. Fresh statistics presented to the FNC yesterday showed the rate in Sharjah was now about 31 per cent, but 60 per cent of those divorces involved Emirati couples.
The minister said that the department would conduct its research next year, and noted that the Marriage Fund was doing its own study, the results of which were expected soon. Ahmed al Khateri, a council member from Ras al Khaimah, said conditions and staffing levels at family development centres needed urgent attention, and called on the ministry to recruit more marriage counsellors, a recommendation echoed by another council member, Sultan al Moathin.
Mrs al Roumi said that already this year her department had trained more than 50 family counsellors and was working with the Ministry of Justice to try to keep reconciliation out of the courts. "We want such efforts to happen in a safe, comfortable environment that is conducive to reconciliation, without the foreboding and tense feelings that occur in courts, when lawyers are present," she said. She also explained that there was to be more emphasis on social development and less on financial assistance - "especially for members of society who are able to work".
"We provide welfare for those who really need it, like people with disabilities. But not every divorced or widowed woman is in need of similar financial assistance." The ministry spends more than Dh1 billion (US$270 million) - 73 per cent of its budget - on Emiratis in need, such as divorced and widowed women, people with special needs and those suffering from incurable illnesses such as HIV/Aids.
Mrs al Roumi also promised a wider scope for social development programmes, which had in the past focused mostly on women. "This will change. Men and children will be able to come and use our services." On low pay for trainees and volunteers, an issue raised by some members of the FNC, she said: "We cannot provide large amounts of money for such volunteers, because it defeats the very purpose of volunteering, and our efforts to encourage a volunteering culture in the country."
She said that while non-Emirati volunteers asked for no financial return, many Emirati volunteers expected some form of payment for their time. Also discussed at yesterday's meeting was a new law approved by members of the FNC and the Ministry of Environment, which will create a national "auditing body" for activities with environmental implications. Dr Rashid bin Fahed, the Minister of the Environment and Water, told the meeting that the new body would help unify environmental initiatives by different agencies.
"The issue of the environment is not just about cleanliness, but also about international commitments we have made to tackle pressing issues, such as climate change," he said. @Email:talramahi@thenational.ae
