CHECHNYA WANTS POLYGAMY TO REPOPULATE COUNTRY

by Kester Kenn Klomegah

(IPS) MOSCOW -- Proposals to permit polygamy in order to reverse a declining population have raised a heated debate in Russia between Muslims who support it and Christian groups that oppose it.

Russia's population fell to 142.8 million between January and November last year, a drop of 675,100, according to official figures. In 2004 the population had declined by 683,400.

The figures show 1.341 million births in 2005 compared with about 1.38 million in the previous year. The birth rate declined in 78 regions, while the death rate increased in 60.

Chechnya's acting Prime Minister Razman Kadyrov has demanded permission for polygamy in his Muslim-dominated republic. "Chechnya needs it because we had a war, and statistically, we have more women than men. This is absolutely necessary for us and the Chechen people," he said.

Kadyrov said there are 25 percent more women than men in Chechnya. He said introduction of polygamy may not require specific new law but needs to be permitted in principle. At present, it is difficult for families of any polygamous men to access state benefits.

Kadyrov is not alone in advocating polygamy.

Chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia Nafigallah Ashirov says polygamy is already widespread among Muslims, many of whom have a number of children from more than one wife. Muslims form about 10 percent of the Russian population, with heavy concentrations in republics such as Chechnya, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Ingushetia and Tatarstan.

The demands for permission for polygamy are particularly strong in Chechnya. "Women agree because they far outnumber their male counterparts, and for fear of being alone, although not all women would like to marry a polygamist," Ashirov told IPS.

People must be allowed to choose, he said. "As a Muslim I believe it to be a human right that if a woman does not want to be single and does not have an opportunity to get married, she agrees to become a second or a third wife," he said. "The state has no right to deprive her of that."

At present, he said "the state gives a woman the right to be a mistress deprived of rights. She can claim neither property nor support for her children. I do not think it reasonable."

Ashirov said: "Suppose a Muslim, or a communist, or just a Russian patriot would want to take four or five wives and live with them so that he can have 25 children. Why deprive him of the opportunity? The more so as the state cannot provide the country with the population at the moment."

Polygamy is strictly inadmissible to Orthodox Christians, but the traditional lifestyle of Russian followers of other religious beliefs should be taken into account, said Vsevolod Chaplin, deputy chairman of the department for external church relations of the Moscow Patriarchate Archpriest.

"The practice should not be encouraged among Christians. But it is increasingly becoming common for Muslims, and it was a known fact even in the Soviet times," he said in a statement.

A bill to permit polygamy had been presented in parliament earlier.

"This bill was pushed some time ago by some liberal politicians, but was rejected on the grounds that it might only create social disorder," chairwoman of the state Duma (parliament) committee on children, family and youth affairs Yekaterina Lakhova told IPS.

State permission for polygamy will not help, she said. "Rather, some Russian men would take advantage and effectively use it to achieve their individual promiscuous goals to the detriment of the female population."

She said strong financial support for more than one family is not possible for most struggling men. More than half the population lives below the official poverty line, and couples are in no hurry to have children without state welfare and family subsidies.

"Even if there is a demographic crisis there should be a more refined means for solving the problem," Lakhova said. "Thousands of our women would never like it."