Polygamy in Central Asdia
Central Asia: The reality of polygamy in the region and its impacts on women and children
17.09.2025
Article published on the rus.azattyq website
A huge row broke out in Kyrgyzstan during the summer over the possibility that polygamy would be legalised. In June, parliamentary deputies approved a package of amendments to the Criminal Code that included a provision that would decriminalise polygamy. This only became public knowledge two months later after the President returned the bill to Parliament, declaring that polygamy degraded women and violated the rights of children. The news provoked a furious backlash, reviving the debate as to whether the practice of “second wives” is still widespread in Central Asian countries despite official bans.
An attempt to legalise polygamy in Kyrgyzstan
In June on the eve of the parliamentary recess, Kyrgyz deputies in the Jogorku Kenesh voted for amendments to the Criminal Code, including as it later transpired, the removal of a clause that covers criminal prosecution for acts of polygamy. The general public only got to hear about this in August when President Sadyr Zhaparov returned the bill to parliament having registered his opposition.
“Polygamy violates the dignity of women and girls and undermines their right to equality and protection within the family. It has serious consequences such as financial deprivation and infringes their property rights, as well as being damaging to children and their wellbeing”, said a statement issued by the President’s office.
Zhaparov and his administration, the Prosecutor General and the Ombudsman’s Office and other State agencies, are all opposed to polygamy being decriminalised. Yet despite an official ban, the practice is not uncommon in Kyrgyzstan, including among well-known public figures. In 2017, former Chief Mufti Chubak Zhalilov publicly admitted to having a second wife.
Cases of polygamy among politicians have also come to light from time to time. During his rule from 2005 to 2010, former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was officially married to Tatyana Bakiyeva, who accompanied him as First Lady, only for it later to emerge that he was also raising children with his second wife Nuzgul Tolomusheva. It was with her that he left the country after the overthrow of his regime and went to Belarus.
Such breaches of the law don’t usually come to the attention of the police, let alone the courts, say human rights activists. There have been no high-profile cases of individuals being punished under Article 176 of the Criminal Code. First wives rarely contact law enforcement agencies after learning their husband has taken a second or even a third wife.
However, a human rights activist Mukhaiyo Abduraupova based in Osh, says that dozens of women who have experienced polygamy contact her privately on a regular basis. “A man has a fling with one woman, then another but property remains in his name. They enter into a Muslim marriage but don’t declare it to the authorities. They hide behind religion but in reality offer no help to either wife. Or sometimes the relationship with the first spouse deteriorates and the man devotes himself fully to his second wife and kicks the first one out”, she says.
The pursuit of material wealth and disenfranchised children
There are no official statistics on how widespread polygamy is in Central Asia. De jure, all five countries recognise only one marriage, i.e. ones officiated in a civil registry office. Second and subsequent unions usually take place after a nikah – a Muslim religious ceremony that is not considered legal.
In Uzbekistan as in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, polygamy is prohibited by law. Cohabitation with two or more women “while maintaining a common household” is punishable by up to three years in prison. But in practice, the phenomenon is openly practised in this country too.
Bakhodir Elibaev, a 43-year-old English teacher in one of the Fergana region’s districts, has been living openly with two women for thirteen years. He is officially married to Mavzhuda and performed a nikah ceremony with his second wife, Yulduz.
That such families are not uncommon in Uzbekistan is indirectly evidenced by the fact that the authorities have repeatedly tried to crack down on its practice. In 2017, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev threatened to impose fines on imams who perform nikahs without a marriage licence. He stated at the time that the majority of such cases had been recorded in the capital, Tashkent.
In October 2023, Mirziyoyev signed a law that strengthened the penalties for promoting polygamy and conducting nikahs without State registration. However, according to a human rights activist who spoke to Azattyk Asia on condition of anonymity, in reality, the practice is becoming increasingly the “norm” and willingly accepted, not only by men but also by many women. But, she says, girls entering into such “marriages” overlook one important legal issue:
“Young women who want to become second or even third wives explain their motivation by saying that men will buy them a house or a car. Second wives are also not obliged to care for their husband’s parents or relatives. But in their pursuit of material wealth, they forget that children born in unofficial marriages have no protection under the law. If a man breaks off relations with them, their children will be denied any social benefits in the form of alimony, not to mention the right to their inheritance”, said the human rights activist.
The impact of labour migration
Mekhrangez, a 27-year-old Tajik woman, knows first-hand about this legal jeopardy, not only of children born out of wedlock but also second wives. Polygamy is officially banned in Tajikistan. The National Criminal Code clearly defines the practice as a crime punishable by fines, hard labour, or up to five years in prison. Article 170 describes polygamy as cohabitation with two or more women.
In reality, hundreds, if not thousands, of women live in religious marriages that are not legally binding, which means they have no claim to property, alimony, or State protection.
Three years ago while going through a particularly painful divorce, Mekhrangez met a married man nine years her senior. He promised he wouldn’t leave her, asked her to marry him in a religious ceremony and bear him a son – he already had four daughters from his official marriage.
“We had a nikah ceremony, after which he rented a flat for me and stayed over once or twice a week”, she says. “A year after our son was born, he bought a two-room apartment on the outskirts of Dushanbe. He registered the flat in his name but agreed to acknowledge paternity and give the child his surname”.
Over time, however, his attitude towards Mehrangez began to change.
“He would say I was a useless wife and that if I didn’t do what I was told, he would kick me out and take my son away. He always uses blackmail to control me”, said Mehrangez.
Tajikistan’s seventh annual report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women last year reported that, from 2019-2022, the country’s courts dealt with 375 cases under the Article on polygamy and handed down hundreds of guilty verdicts.
But experts say these figures are just the tip of the iceberg. It is hard to estimate the true scale of the problem as the parties involved do their best to avoid publicity: men out of fear of prosecution, or the potential break-up of their official marriage, and women because they have no other way of enhancing their social status.
The situation is exacerbated by mass labour migration, say analysts. “Young men in Tajikistan often marry in their home country, have two or three children, then leave them behind, go abroad and get married again there”, says a local journalist Sirozhiddin Topilov.
“It is not uncommon for men who migrate to break off all contact with their families, stop providing financial support and leave the women alone with their problems”, says gender expert Nargis Saidova.
We need a system that protects the rights of everyone, especially the most vulnerable
Polygamy is not a criminal offence in Kazakhstan (the relevant legislation was repealed in 1991), but registering a second marriage officially is not possible – the civil registration authorities will refuse to do so if one of the spouses is already married. The State is monogamous and doesn’t interfere in informal unions, according to Kazakh gender expert Aigerim Kusayynkyzy.
“It’s a kind of “grey area” in that it’s not officially banned, but there’s no protection from the State either”, says Aigerim. She also considers polygamy to be a pressing issue that requires serious discussion and a major rethink.
“It’s not just a matter of having tougher penalties, but of comprehensive reform aimed at securing real protection of women’s and children’s rights. The current situation isn’t working because establishing and proving a case is hard to do. For example, in Kyrgyzstan, you have to prove “maintaining a common household”, but this rarely makes it to court as the wording in relevant Tajik legislation is very vague in this area. Even law enforcement officials admit to having difficulty in agreeing the legal distinction between a second wife and a cohabitant”, says the expert.
Speaking of a legal ban on polygamy, Aigerim believes that while the practice cannot be totally eradicated, it is quite possible to control it.
“Criminal prosecution should focus on actual harm – coercion, violence and deceit with serious consequences. We need to simplify how paternity is determined, introduce clear criteria for proving a de facto marriage: common children, property and debts and ensuring the right to support in such marriages; as well as collecting meaningful statistics that can be used in the fight against violence perpetrated against women”.
“The bottom line is that simple bans don’t work. We need a system that protects the rights of everyone, particularly the most vulnerable, notably women and children in unregistered unions”, she says.
