Tehran, July 17, The Iran Project - Iran's judiciary banned the uncontested divorce without consultation. According to a judiciary official such divorce would not be registered until the couples go to the family counseling centers and then judge will be authorized to issue the decree of divorce.

There is no doubt that this new regulation in Family Law is a new approach to slow the rise of divorce in Iran.

The truth is that the divorce is skyrocketing in Iran and the share of marriages ending in divorce has more than doubled since the last decades.

Compared to the average of divorce in the world which is one for every seven marriages, there is 1 divorce for every 4.8 marriages in Iran. This stunning surge in divorce rate is while it is blamed both in the traditional Iranian perspective and Islamic culture.

Admittedly, there are a range of outcomes for divorce both in the personal and social level. Yet, one of the large consequences of the divorce rise is the negative growth rate of the country and this is why the government is seriously concerned about the dissolution of marriages.

The statistics indicate that Iran’s population growth has dropped to only 1.29 percent in the past 12 months, making it the lowest in the region. Numerous desperate measures have been taken so far to influence this trend and it seems that to lower the rate of divorce is an effective way to handle the challenge of falling birth rate.

But this issue remains to be discussed that how effective banning the uncontested divorce is to lower this rate in the country. In the government's perspective, in order to help keep this rising rate under the control all spouses should choose the contested divorce and the uncontested one should be banned since it essentially makes the process of dissolution much easier.

The truth is that no one can speak for uncontested divorce in general. Based on this logic, this type of divorce has serious advantages which the new regulation automatically impedes them and this is what the policy makers should be aware of.

Uncontested divorce offers the couples the opportunity to agree between themselves to handle the issues around. Compared to the contested divorce, the uncontested one is much inexpensive and less time-consuming and divorcing couples can avoid spending much less money and time.

In addition, in the certain circumstances the uncontested divorce might be a very good idea since it can help the conflict be resolved more private and more cooperative. In this way there won't be any need to go through the more complicated process such as the counseling authorities.

Making all spouses to go through the contested marriage may help control the rising process of divorce in Iran, but the extent to which it may affect is not certain. There is no doubt that the new regulation intends to deals with the divorce crisis, but the legal system must ensure that the implementation of the new regulation doesn't produce any more challenges.