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20:09, 28 May 2025

Rights defenders and activists treat problem of marriages with drug addicts in Northern Caucasus as systemic

Northern Caucasus has a widespread practice, when, in order to preserve the family’s honour, parents of drug-addicted sons marry them off without warning the brides about the problem.

The practice of marrying drug addicts has become widespread in recent years, said Maryam Alieva, the author of the popular Instagram* blog in Dagestan entitled "Mountain Girl’s Diaries". "The growth of drug addiction, especially among the youth, is frantic. Parents, faced with their son's drug addiction, try to ‘cure’ him through marriage, hoping that ‘a woman will fix him’, ‘the family will take care of him’, or simply ‘he’ll become responsible’," Alieva told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

At the same time, the girls' parents don’t always protect their daughters. "They’ll also blame them. A conflict with the husband's family may arise, perhaps even pressure on him. But it rarely happens that someone directly insists on a divorce," Maryam Alieva believes, adding that due to the taboo imposed on the problem, such marriages become a trap for the girls themselves. Sometimes they themselves become drug-dependent.

They knew about his addiction, but hid it

Several victims’ stories are presented in the post placed on May 6 in the Instagram blog "Mountain Girl’s Diaries". "When I approached his parents, they said: ‘This is your business! You are his wife, help him get out. Would a wife abandon him in trouble?’ But they knew about his addiction, but hid it,” one of the girls stated on condition of anonymity. By May 28, the post had collected 36,400 likes and 359 comments.

"Women are made responsible"

Saida Sirazhudinova, President of the Centre for Studying Modern Global Issues and Regional Problems "Caucasus. World. Development", has confirmed the systemic nature of such marriages. "For men, everything is simpler. Even ‘honour killings’ of males occur less often. Those who drink are more pressured as violators of the Sharia Law than drug addicts. There are even religious people, men with beards, with all the attributes, who treat certain drug types as acceptable. Such men are married; and women are made responsible, who must accept them and endure," Ms Sirazhudinova has stated.

It is difficult for the women who have encountered such a problem to find help and support. They can talk to their husbands, turn to their families for support and a solution, or write to human rights defenders and ask for advice and an action plan, she has noted.

Parents, as a rule, love their sons, no matter what they are

Elena Patyaeva, an activist, has noted that "sometimes (victims of such practices) can leave their husbands and return to their parents' home, but often they will simply be told: be patient. Parents, as a rule, love their sons, no matter what they are. Although there are exceptions; and honour killings, for example, can also be committed against men for their belonging to the LGBT community. But it must be said that this method of ‘placing’ a problem child is not only practiced in relation to sons in Northern Caucasus: girls are also sometimes married off to ‘hide the shame’," Elena told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Patimat Abdulaeva, a lawyer, has explained that t law does not allow a marriage to be declared invalid due to concealment of one’s drug addiction. "A marriage can only be declared invalid if they concealed about a venereal disease or HIV infection; but drug addiction provides no such opportunity," she told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

In this case, the marriage can be dissolved according to the usual practice. "The court is obliged to dissolve the marriage if the spouse insists on it, regardless of the husband's position. You can get a divorce through the registry office if there are no children and joint property," Ms Abdulaeva has added.

This was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 28, 2025 at 03:29 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here. 

*On March 21, 2022, the Tverskoi Court of Moscow banned the activities in Russia of the Meta Company, owning the Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, in connection with extremist activities.

Author: Roman Kuzhev

Source: CK correspondent

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