Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi called on the Minister of Justice in the government, Counselor Omar Marawan, to prepare a new draft law that would allow the establishment of a special fund in which all those who wish to marry would participate.
Al-Sisi's proposal was presented during his speech - today, Monday - at the inauguration of new projects in the chemical industries complex in the "Abu Rawash" area in Giza Governorate.
According to local media, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi stressed the importance of presenting the idea of the new Egyptian Family Fund, within the Personal Status Law, for societal dialogue during the coming period.
Al-Sisi asked, “Why do we create a fund in law?” He replied, “For any family, and the difference is possible. When a dispute occurs between the spouses, no one wants to spend, and the children are lost, so we work on the family fund to take care of the expenses during this period.”
He added, "The true religion has systems, and the state that does not legislate systems that achieve the purposes of religion, then it becomes defective. It is not enough to address people's consciences. The state is also responsible for achieving objectives."
The Egyptian President addressed the youth, saying: "You want to get married. Put an amount in the fund. Whoever is able to be happy can pay the amount. I agreed with the Prime Minister that the government pays the same amount as the couples. If the couples put a billion pounds, the government will put a billion and so on." We will take care of the procedure that our children believe in everything.”
Since taking office in June 2014, Sisi has initiated the establishment of a number of sovereign funds, most notably the Social Housing Fund and Real Estate Finance Support, the Ministry of Health Investment Fund, the Long Live Egypt Fund, and the Suez Canal Fund, which has been controversial recently.
The high divorce rate in Egypt
During the meeting, the Minister of Justice revealed that the annual divorce rate in Egypt has reached 36% recently.
According to the statistics of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, Egypt witnessed an increase in divorce cases in 2021, as it recorded 254 thousand and 777 cases, compared to 222 thousand and 39 cases in 2020, while the index of the number of marriages since 2015 has been steadily declining.
In a study published by the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health in 2020, she attributed the rise in divorce rates in Egypt to financial problems, the inability of social compatibility between spouses, giving up a sense of responsibility, drug addiction, and the interference of family and friends in the life of spouses, most of which resulted in suffering. Children, violence, neglect and dropout from education.
The study attributed some divorce cases to the change in the law that came into force in 2000 throughout Egypt, but it is often applied in cities only due to societal norms. Habit.
In 2005, the Personal Status Law was passed, which added to the rights of divorced mothers the right to custody of children, until their children (boys and girls) reach the age of 15, or if the mother remarries, in which case the grandparents take care of the children.