Cousin marriage

Marriage relatives or relatives marriage means the marriage between close blood relatives, with the proximity or the degree of relatedness of the common biological descent of the spouse results; cousins ​​( cousins ​​) are related as closely viewed by 2 degrees, as well as aunts and uncles and nephews and nieces. Worldwide, more than one billion people live in countries where relatives marriages are common, a third of them between cousins ​​. Estimated 20 percent of the world population prefer a relatives marriage.

In Turkey, its incidence is estimated to be 20 to 30 percent, in Oman it is around two to three times higher; each traditional an Islamic community lives, the more relatives marriages seem to occur. Genetic counseling centers have also in the countries concerned to the fact that children of consanguineous couples the greater risk of a hereditary disease or disability than children of unrelated pairs ( see also the Erbkrankheitsrisiken ).

German marriage law

The Civil Code (BGB ) allowed marriages between cousins ​​of all degrees of kinship - are only prohibited marriages between blood relatives straight line ( parent → child, grandparent, grandchild → ) and between siblings. The § 1307 relationship states: " A marriage may not be contracted between lineal relatives and between vollbürtigen and halbbürtigen siblings. This also applies if the family relationship is extinguished by adoption " ( adoption). The § 1589 kinship explains the line: " Persons whose one descended from the other, are related in a straight line. Persons who are not related in a straight line, but are descended from the same third person are used in the sidelines. The degree of relationship is determined by the number of them mediating births. "

A marriage that was concluded contrary to the prohibition, although is effective but subject to appeal ( § 1314 Reasons for cancellation ).

Catholic marriage law

For close blood relatives up to first degree cousins ​​marriage is forbidden by the Catholic Church ( 1091 Code of Canon Law ). For certain degrees of relationship of cousin - cousin the ban can be lifted by a special permit from the Church (see impediment to marriage in canon law ). By 1917, the Catholic Church forbade marriages up to and including cousins ​​in the third degree.

The Spanish Bourbons, which could be given as their predecessors of the Pope "Catholic Kings" entered into in 1765 with the blessing of the Church both marriages between first -degree cousins ​​and between uncles and nieces, and several times over several generations (see Bourbon cousins ​​and non- married ).

Islamic marriage law

As in other religions, are also valid in Islam incest taboos and marriage bans. A special feature of Islam is the extension of the incest of consanguinity on milk kinship ( physically unrelated people who were breastfed by the same woman or nurse ). In the Qur'an, An-Nisa ' ( "Women " ) are enumerated more clear prohibitions in verse 23, for example, uncle - niece marriages in 4 Sure:

"Forbidden ( to marry ) you are your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, your paternal aunts or mother's side, the nieces, your foster mothers, your Nährschwestern, the mothers of your wives, your stepdaughters who are in the wombs of your family (and ) from ( those of ) your women ( come ) to which their (already ) are received, - if ye have not gone in to them, it is no sin on you ( to marry such a step-daughters ) - and ( are forbidden unto you ) the wives of your biological sons. Also ( it is forbidden unto you ) to have two sisters together ( for woman), apart from what has already happened ( in this respect ). Allah is merciful to forgive and ready. "

According to a recent study by the Australian Centre for Comparative Genomics, more than half of marriages between close relatives are closed in some Islamic countries, Germany in 2010, about one in four Turkish-born woman was married to a relative.

According to a study by the Journal of Reproductive Health 2009 consanguineous marriages in the Arab world, 25 to 30 percent of all marriages between cousins ​​are 1 degree closed, a total of 20 to 50 percent between blood relatives. The willingness to do so is increasing in countries like Yemen, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, but decreases in Yemen, Jordan and Tunisia with increasing educational level of women ( not in men). There are no studies to different divorce rates of consanguineous marriages compared to unrelated pairs.

In the UK, Phil Woolas (then Environment Minister, later ' Minister of State for Borders and Immigration ' and ' Minister of State for the Treasury ' to May 2010 under Prime Minister Gordon Brown of October 2008) in February 2008 noted that in the Pakistani community still 55 % of all marriages between cousins ​​are closed in the UK. Their descendants reported, according to a medical study on 30 percent of all genetic birth defects in newborn babies in the UK. Three percent of all newborns have Pakistani parents; their risk is ten times higher. Woolas warned of ' inbreeding in the islamioschen community '. The statement was a great public response. In May 2011, dismissed Professor Steve Jones, one of the most famous British geneticist and scientist, also it out. According to Jones is in the City of Bradford (where many Pakistanis live ) the problem is particularly large. When a man marries his brother's daughter, the genetic risk is even greater than in the marriage between first cousins ​​.