Hege Storhaug, HRS
Min oldemors søster giftet seg med fetteren i samme bygda på sørvestlandet. De fikk fire barn. To døde før de var fem år gamle, en levde til han var 30 år – sterkt handikappet og psykisk tilbakestående, mens den fjerde var frisk. Under et legebesøk i Stavanger fikk den friske unge mannen følgende beskjed: den dagen du skal gifte seg, må du finne deg ei kone langt fra bygda.
Det gjorde han. Og barna de fikk var friske alle sammen. Her sluttet inngifteproblemene i min familie, tidlig på 1900-tallet.
Den kritiske fornuften står ikke i høysetet blant pakistanere i Storbritannia. Hele 75 prosent av barna i byen Bradford som er funksjonshemmet, har foreldre som tilhører den pakistanske befolkning og som er søskenbarn. Allerede for flere år siden (2005) ble det kjent at brittiske pakistanere står for tre prosent av barnefødslene i Storbritannia, mens 30 prosent av alle barn som fødes med skader, er av pakistansk opprinnelse. Det er også gammelt nytt at 55 prosent av samtlige gifte brittiske pakistanere har ektet søskenbarn. I Bradford er det svimlende tallet 75 prosent. Vel så svimlende er tall fra Birmingham: 10 prosent av barn født av søskenbarn enten dør som spedbarn eller fødes med livsvarige skader, melder Times
Tross disse tallene på bordet; igjen rapporteres det at ”nå skal vi snakkes om dette”. Det skal ikke handles i tråd med hva som er den europeiske tradisjonen; etablere lovverk som kan eliminere problemet, Norge kanskje best symbolisert med de Castbergske barnelovene, som jeg skrev om for et par dager siden.
Baroness Deech, a family law professor and crossbencher, will call next week for a “vigorous” public campaign to deter the practice, which is prevalent in Muslim and immigrant communities and on the rise. She will reignite a debate started five years ago when Ann Cryer, MP for Keighley, drew attention to the number of disabled babies being born in the town and called for cousin marriage to be stopped.
Fifty-five per cent of British Pakistanis are married to first cousins and in Bradford the figure is 75 per cent. British Pakistanis represent 3 per cent of all births in Britain but one third of children with recessive disorders.
Lady Deech will also warn that marriage between first cousins can be a barrier to the integration of minority communities. In a lecture she will call for testing for genetic defects where such marriages are arranged and the keeping of a register of people who carry genetic diseases, so that two carriers are not introduced. “Some variant of this could be possible in cities such as Bradford with a high density of immigrant population,” she will say.
Respekt for menneskerettigheter og religiøse og kulturelle praksiser, har tydeligvis forrang for individ og helse.
“Human rights and religious and cultural practices are respected by not banning cousin marriage,” she will argue.“
Men hvorfor ikke bare fortsetter praksisen, men den er dertil økende? Følg pengene, er et mye brukt begrep innen journalistikken. Og det handler selvsagt om stammementalitet og lojalitet.
She will note that the practice has always been associated with immigrants and the poor and is “at odds with freedom of choice, romantic love and integration”. But factors linked to cousin marriage in the British immigrant community are working against what she calls its “otherwise inevitable decline”.
One is finance: such marriages can be arranged to settle debts. Another is financial support of relatives abroad. A third is that it provides a “ready-made framework of supportive family members for a new immigrant spouse”; and a fourth is that it enables relatives to migrate to Britain as a fiancé or spouse.
In the Middle East, it is also said to underpin clan loyalty and to accompany nepotism, she argues.
Til tross for alle problemer og lidelser, vil ikke Lady Deech bruke harde tiltak, altså lovverk og derav forbud. Hun mener tydeligvis at et forbud ikke står i forhold til problemets omfang og karakter. Når det er sagt, så vil ikke forbud internt i Storbritannia avhjelpe problemet. Man vil kunne leve sammen med et søskenbarn uten å registrere giftermålet – som er inngått i moskeen. Men man kan stoppe henting av nye søskenbarn i opprinnelseslandet.
But cousin marriage can be a barrier to integration of immigrant communities and “arguably to democracy as we know it abroad”. It also carries genetic problems that can be “replicated generation after generation, with accumulated suffering in an extended family”. But Lady Deech does not favour a ban on first-cousin marriages such as one that exists in US states.
“The State would have to show that it had compelling reasons to limit the right to marry and that the means are related to the goal.” But there are compelling arguments to act on health grounds. Personal health is the “fetish of the late 20th century” and people are targeted over food safety, drink, smoking, alcohol and exercise.
Yet there are cultural differences or ignorance about disabled children, she says. Women may be blamed in some minority cultures for being childless or having disabled children; while the “Muslim view . . . is that it is a consequence of Allah’s will, and they may therefore approach it with fatalism”.
Lady Deech calls for measures short of a ban to prevent the genetic problems arising from cousin marriage.
She says: “There is no reason, one could argue, why there should not be a campaign to highlight the risks and the preventative measures, every bit as vigorous as those centring on smoking, obesity and Aids.” While there was reluctance to “target or upset Muslims over cousin-marriage issues” the practice was not mandated by religion, only permitted, so it is not at heart a religious issue, she argues.
Igjen er det opplsning i skolene som er “det hellige midlet”:
A campaign of education needs to start in schools so they understand about genetics and what it means to carry a mutant gene, Lady Deech says.
“Where marriages are arranged, it is possible to test for carrier status and record the results, without stigmatising individuals.” In the Orthodox Jewish community young people are screened for Tay-Sachs disease, a recessive genetic disorder that prevents mental and physical development, but not given the result. When a match is proposed, a register is checked to ensure two young people who are carriers are not introduced. “Some variant of this could be possible in cities such as Bradford, with a high density of immigrant population”, she argues. Finally she suggests in-vitro embryo testing: ethical objections about this being a slippery slope to eugenics are met by current guidelines under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, she says.
Ikke underlig er Muslim Council of Britain fornøyd; informasjons- og dialoglinjen skal følges:
Inayat Bunglawala, of the Muslim Council of Britain, welcomed Lady Deech’s comments. He said that cousin marriage was popular even though Islamic teaching encouraged wedlock outside the immediate family.
“Certainly education has an important role to play in this area. There are clear dangers in marrying a close relative, which need to be better understood. Professor Deech’s recommendation appear to be sensible,” he said.
Mrs Cryer said: “It is essential that we discuss this issue. We have been told to be careful, as discussing it could cause deep offence. Blow that, it does not matter. If people wish to be offended, they will be offended.”
Til dags dato har jeg ikke sett konkrete tall fra Storbritannia på hvor mange barn årlig som fødes med skader grunnet inngifte, eller hvilke kostnader og hvilket press praksisen medfører for helsevesenet. Det er grunn til å tro at tallene varsler om forhold som er dramatiske.
Jeg har for øvrig heller ikke sett reportasjer fra Storbritannia om at utviklingshemmede brukes til å hente søskenbarn gjennom ekteskap – slik Norge har tillatt i alle år, men som nå er vanskeliggjort grunnet et absolutt forsørgerkrav.