Divorce rates in Bahrain were higher last year than at anytime in the past five years, according to the latest figures.

The Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Ministry statistics, revealed by lawyer Huda Al Shaer, show that for every five marriages recorded in Bahrain last year, at least one divorce was also being filed, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

This gives a divorce rate, which is expressed as a percentage representing the number of divorces each year as compared to the number of marriages, of 23 per cent for Bahrain in 2013.

By comparison in 2012, 6,311 marriages and 335 divorces took place - giving a divorce rate of just five per cent.

Speaking at a recent lecture on child custody at the Hamad Town Community Centre, organised by the Northern Governorate, Al Shaer described the figures as troubling.

"Bahrain has high divorce rates despite couples undergoing counselling to try and resolve their issues before separation," she said.

"Last year, for every 100 marriages, there were 23 divorces - with the divorcees mainly in their early 20s or late 30s."

Representative of Women's Support Centre at the Supreme Council for Women Amal Bado called for a centre to be formed to help resolve marital disputes and bring down Bahrain's divorce rate.

"Women who don't try to resolve disputes can then be appointed a lawyer to follow up their divorce cases in court," she said.

"Our centre already offers full, impartial advice and legal consultancy for civil and criminal cases that include abuse, theft and unfair dismissal from work - besides family-related matters."

Meanwhile Al Shaer, who specialises in marital disputes, went on to explain that differences in the Jaffari and Sunni schools of thought impacted on who had the right to custody over children in the event of a divorce.

"In the Sunni faith, the mother has the right to custody, then her mother, then the father's mother and then the father," she said.

"But for the Jaffari, in normal cases the mother takes care of those below the age of seven and the responsibility then goes to the father, with a judge reserving the right to determine who is most suitable."

The GDN reported last March (2013) that Bahrain's divorce rate for 2012 was five per cent, according to a statement Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa made to MPs.

The minister also revealed that in 2011, 5,784 marriages and 533 divorces took place, giving a divorce rate of 10 per cent, while in 2010 there were 4,755 marriages and 608 divorces (13 per cent) and in 2009 4,815 marriages and 717 divorces (15 per cent). - TradeArabia News Service