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Riyadh: Divorce cases are rising on an alarming level in the kingdom in recent years, with about 60 per cent of marriages in the Jeddah region ending in divorce. Dr Khalid Al Hulaibi, director of the Family Development Centre under Al Birr Charitable Society in eastern Al Ahsa region, said the percentage of divorce cases in Riyadh region was 39 per cent while it was 20 per cent and 18 per cent in Al Ahsa and the Eastern Region respectively. He attributed several factors to this, saying they included financial problems, increasing doubts, influence of satellite channels and mobile phones and intervention of external parties between the couples.
Addressing a press conference on the eve of the first annual seminar of Al Birr Charitable Society entitled "Divorce: causes, impact and remedies," scheduled to be held today, Dr Khalid Al Hulaibi said that the centre is engaged in solving a wide variety of problems and disputes among couples. "The centre has so far received about 1,000 phone calls and 700 SMS seeking advice on family issues. We were able to solve problems of 15 couples," he said. Meanwhile, Dr Abdul Mohsen Al Arfaj, director of Al Birr Charitable Society, said that the seminar will discuss various aspects of the increasing phenomenon of divorce cases in the kingdom and will come out with proposals and suggestions to reduce them to the minimum. There will be eight sessions, which are devoted to discussions on topics such as the present state of divorce cases in the kingdom, its social, economic, security and psychological impact, ways to bring down divorce cases and the successful experiment of Family Development Centre. It is noteworthy that a report, published by the Ministry of Planning in July last year, showed that one divorce takes place in the kingdom every 40 minutes, 33 in a day and 12,192 in a year. "There was an increase of 20 per cent in the percentage of divorce cases in 2004 as compared with the previous year," the report said, adding that nearly 65 per cent of marriages undertaken through matchmakers had ended up in divorce.
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