Manama: Judges in Saudi Arabia helped 394 Filipinas get married by acting as their guardians in 2015, official records show.
Under Saudi laws, a woman can get married after a guardian — usually her father or brother — approves the wedding.
However, in case the guardian is absent or does not approve the union, a judge may step in and assume the guardianship.
According to the figures released by the justice ministry, judges acted as guardians last year in 517 wedding contracts, with Filipinas representing the vast majority.
The figures showed that judges helped 16 Saudi women get married through their guardianship.
Three of the Saudi women married Filipinos, and three others married Syrians, while in the other marriages, the husbands were from Egypt, Jordan, India, the US and Yemen.
Foreigners make up around one-third of the total population of Saudi Arabia estimated at 30 million people.
The justice ministry said there were 4,983 divorces in 2015 — attributed mainly to irreconcilable differences, problems with spouses, the long absence of the husband, the imprisonment of a spouse or difficulties in consummating the marriage.
According to the figures, 4,425 Saudi couples were divorced last year.
