Marriage guidance and counseling offices will be set up all over the Kingdom to counter rising divorce rates in the country, said Muhammad Al-Babtain, Director of the Mazouni Al-Inkeha “Marriage Contracting” Administration at the Ministry of Justice. The Experts Commission of the Council of Ministers has approved a study to set up such offices, Al-Babtain said. The project will be carried out under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Social Affairs. The Ministry of Finance will create a special financial allocation for it. He said the project will be affiliated to the country's charity, welfare and volunteer societies. The aim is to ensure that young couples are able to deal with their problems and live happy married lives. He said guidance will assist people to discover what they want in life and help them unlock their own “brilliance”. Al-Babtain said guidance is different from counseling because it is more focused on the future. It can be done in sessions of only 15 to 20 minutes rather than the 50 minutes needed for counseling sessions and can be conducted over the phone. He added that guidance is sometimes a part of counseling, but counseling is rarely a part of guidance. The key difference is that counseling generally focuses on problem resolution while guidance places an emphasis on enhancing relationships. He said the sessions will be held by experts, scholars and specialist judges. Couples will get a clear idea of their rights and obligations. They will get certificates on completion of the course. Al-Babtain said the project will tackle the country's high divorce rates. The Ministry of Justice had registered 24,946 cases of divorce in 2011, at a daily average of 69 cases. He added that many unmarried and divorced women are choosing to run away from home, causing further family problems. A recent study by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Hai'a) found that 53 percent of all women who ran away from home were unmarried, with divorcees accounting for 28.4 percent of the total. The study also showed that 51.4 percent of those who ran away were between 16 and 20 years of age and 38.5 percent were between 21 and 25 years of age. The Ministry of Interior registered 14,729 cases against women in 2010, most of whom were unmarried women and divorcees. He said these statistics should raise the alarm about the causes and effects of divorce. He hoped that the project would help to counter this situation. __
