Spotlight on Family

An article from 7 Days on the results of the most recent Doha Debates. Interesting debate.

Marriage between first cousins has been common in the Arab World for centuries – but a discussion on the subject in the Middle East has revealed many want to rethink the tradition.

At the Doha Debates, held at Georgetown University in Qatar’s capital, 81 per cent of the audience voted to support the motion ‘This house believes marriage between close family members should be discouraged’, while 19 per cent opposed it.

Just five members of the 350-strong audience, made up of students from countries spanning the Middle East and North Africa, admitted that they were married to or planned to marry their first cousin. Panelist Ohad Birk, a geneticist, has spent 10 years researching hereditary disorders in Bedouin communities in which he said 60 per cent of marriages are between first or second cousins.

He gave an emotive argument as to why consanguineous union, as close-family marriage is called, should be discouraged.

Birk added: “The instances of severe birth defects are four times higher than in other communities.”

“At the end of the day, these are human beings. Two days ago a couple came into my office with their two bright, beautiful girls, both born with no eyeballs. This couple is devastated.

“Last week I visited the home of a family of a high school teacher, three of his kids, aged 23, 20 and 18, are in diapers, severely mentally retarded, they don’t recognise their parents.

“These families send a very clear message – marry within your community, marry even within your remote family, but do not marry your first cousin.”

However, a female Emirati student in the audience said cousin marriage is a common practice among UAE nationals and discouraging it could limit the wedding prospects of Emirati women.

“They (Emirati men) have more options,” she said.

“Emirati women want to marry Emirati men so that their kids will be Emirati but men can marry non-Emiratis and their kids will still be Emirati. It [the motion] may make it harder for Emirati women to marry.” Alan Bittles, an expert on community genetics and a professor at two Australian universities, argued against the motion, saying that he believed some of the statistics presented were ‘spurious’.

He acknowledged there was an increased risk of birth defects in cousin marriages – but that the increase is small.

“Who is going to monitor this? Who is going to run this? Will we impose sanctions or take a stance against those who don’t want to agree to this? As a geneticist of 30 years standing, I am well aware of the difficulties that have been in the past as the result of the misuse of genetics.

“At the start of the 20th century, hundreds of thousands of people were murdered or sterilised on eugenic grounds.

“What can appear to be a reasonable stance can turn out to be monstrous.” Saudi columnist and broadcaster Samar Fatany also opposed the motion. “Culturally, the lifestyle here, there is a lot of respect for the family,” she said.

“Families feel comfortable if their daughter marries within the family rather than marry a stranger, they do not know if she is going to be happy or safe if they know nothing about her husband’s background.

“The segregated lifestyle does not allow for the mixing of sexes outside the family environment, consequently you have cousins falling in love and parents will not stand in the way of love.” Panelists from both sides advocated for couples undergoing genetic testing before marriage to find out if there is a risk of birth defects in their offspring.