Tragedy Shines Light On Lives Of Yemeni Child Brides : NPR

The Convention on the Rights of the Child does not explicitly address child marriage. However, child marriage is viewed as incompatible with a number of the articles in the convention. A government study in collaboration with UNICEF on access to education for Yemeni girls shows that opportunities for education are restricted for many reasons. But parents also take girls out of school early to prepare them for marriage.

In Denmark, it was determined there were “dozens of cases of girls living with older men”, prompting Minister Inger Stojberg to state she would “stop housing child brides in asylum centers”. In 2019, Mozambique’s national assembly passed a law prohibiting child marriage. This law came after national movements condemning Mozambique’s high rate of child marriage with 50% of girls marrying under the age of 18. In 2015, Malawi passed a law banning child marriage, which raises the minimum age for marriage to 18.

  • The question of whether a girl is capable of providing her full and free consent to marriage becomes more complex as she grows older.
  • Yemen has 21 governorates, and the majority of its population lives in rural areas.
  • The lack of a support system may exacerbate the vulnerability of married girls.
  • Another reason for Malawi’s effort is the high teenage pregnancy rate and the fact that teen pregnancies contribute to per cent of maternal deaths in the country.
  • Yemen occupies 527,970 km2 (203,850 sq. mi) and is bordered by Saudi Arabia and Oman.
  • Andrew Bushell claims rate of marriage of 8- to 13-year-old girls exceeding 50% in Afghan refugee camps along the Pakistan border.

‘” she says, explaining the group’s suspicion that she was being used as a puppet by a foreign country or NGO. Al Ahdal and her uncle appealed to the Yemeni Ministry of Interior, which, in conjunction with a child welfare organisation, detained her for 10 days during negotiations with members of the family. What she was yet to learn, Al Ahdal says, was that the marriage had already been formalised. When discussing the subject, she does not rule out the possibility of dating but it is clearly a distant priority even as a woman now at the age of 20. The song is by Abu Bakr Salem and was inspired by the moment friends spotted http://chiraghsociety.com/the-new-japanese-woman-modernity-media-and-women-in-interwar-japan-books-gateway-duke-university-press/ his son, then nine, in intimate conversation with a girl his age. After fleeing her homeland, she lived in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Kenya, never remaining more than a year because she was either not allowed to study or did not have https://foreignbridesguru.com/yemen-brides/ the right to stay. The journey to save herself propelled the young Al Ahdal to international attention, with interest sustained ever since by the campaign she leads to give victims an escape route like the one her uncle Abdelsalem provided.

They also stress that sex outside marriage is adultery, according to Sharia. “We understand that young people are sexually active, but unlike in the West, they can marry here and not partake in immoral behaviour,” said al-Hazmi. Those who oppose the bill cite the example of the marriage between the Prophet Mohammed and his second wife Aisha, who was said to be around nine at the time. “We view a child as mature when it reaches puberty, not when it’s 18,” said Sheikh Mohammed al-Hazmi, who is a member of the Yemeni parliament. On 21 March, several religious clerics issued a fatwa against a minimum age.

In the other free program the Global Campaign for the Prevention of Child Marriage has been launched in March 2019, and the primary goal of this Campaign is raising awareness and illuminating people’s minds to address child marriage in the world. In December 2011 a resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (A/RES/66/170) designated 11 October as the International Day of the Girl https://collector0euros.com/how-to-get-laid-in-sweden-where-to-pick-up-and-date-girls/ Child. On 11 October 2012 the first International Day of the Girl Child was held, the theme of which was ending child marriage. In July 2014, the United Kingdom hosted its first global Girl Summit; the goal of the Summit was to increase efforts to end child, early, and forced marriage and female genital mutilation within a generation. In 2016 there were 1475 underage foreigners were registered in Germany, of which 1100 were girls. In July 2016, 361 foreign children under 14 were registered as married. New laws of 2014 fixed the marriageable at 18 for both sexes; prior to these regulations the age was 16 for females and 18 for males.

Another custom in Pakistan, called swara or vani, involves village elders solving family disputes or settling unpaid debts by marrying off girls. Similarly, the custom of watta satta has been cited as a cause of child marriages in Pakistan. In April 2008, Nujood Ali, a 10-year-old girl, successfully obtained a divorce after being raped under these conditions. Her case prompted calls to raise the legal age for marriage to 18. Later in 2008, the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood proposed to define the minimum age for marriage at 18 years. But the law was dropped the next day following maneuvers by opposing parliamentarians. Meanwhile, Yemenis inspired by Nujood’s efforts continue to push for change, with Nujood involved in at least one rally.

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For example, girls may not be seen as eligible for marriage if they are not virgins. In other cultures, the fear is that an unmarried girl may engage in illicit relationships, or elope, causing a permanent social blemish to her siblings, or that the impoverished family may be unable to find bachelors for grown-up girls in their socioeconomic group. Such fears and social pressures have been proposed as causes that lead to child marriages.

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One of her sisters, Sabrin, was married off by her father to another inmate. For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription. It includes both the number of groups that suggested each issue, as well as the median ranking by those who suggested it. Identified consequences were then collated by the number of groups who mentioned it, and their corresponding rank scores were tallied to find the median score. All interview guides were translated and piloted prior to roll-out in each governorate. The importance of this conversion in propelling Al Ahdal onwards in her mission to stop young girls from being sold “like sheep” cannot be underestimated.

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All participants consented to being interviewed after Human Rights Watch informed them of the purpose of the interview and the way in which their stories would be used and reported. Participants were informed that they could stop the interview at any time or decline to answer specific questions.

Reem is the latest child bride to run from her husband’s arms into the media spotlight. But she is not the youngest girl to escape from domestic violence and sexual abuse in recent months. This spring, 9-year-old Arwa and 10-year-old Nujood became the first “tiny voices” to alert the world to Yemen’s widespread practice of child marriage. 10 of those aged under 16 – the minimum local age for sex or marriage – were married and four had children, the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration said. Of the 10 “some live in adult asylum centers, some in their own rooms and some with their partners”, it said in emailed replies to Reuters questions … Minister Inger Støjberg said that she would “stop housing child brides in asylum centers” after a review found dozens of cases of girls living with older men.

Other participants said educated girls are granted more agencies and are better equipped to contribute to domestic and economic household stability. However, these comments most often related to her abilities as a wife and mother. This fear was not described for boys, thus highlighting a factor in the perceived need to marry girls at a younger age than boys. A little over half of household members were female (55%), which was similar across IDP (55.5%) and host (54.6%) populations. Mean length of time that the household had lived in their current location was much less for IDPs (25.4 months) than hosts (157.4 months). The wealth index created through principal component analysis was heavily right skewed, showing many of the households were living at a lower socioeconomic status , with IDPs at a lower average SES status than host communities (−0.69 and 0.54, respectively). Figure 1) and cultural representation, concentration of IDPs, and accessibility to research.

But on top of social tradition, the conflict in Yemen has exacerbated conditions that have seen a rapid rise in the practice. The ongoing war, that began in 2014, is one of the main drivers contributing to the climbing numbers of child marriages, according to a recent statement by a UN Security Council working group. When Hind’s mother managed to get a court order cancelling the marriage contract, her story became one of the rare cases of reprieve in Yemen, where the rate of child marriage is rising rapidly. It is also possible that educated fathers, regardless of employment status, prioritize girls’ education and are more likely to delay marriage for their daughters. However, this relationship is complex and merits further investigation. Child brides are not only vulnerable to abuse, they are also more likely to experience dangerous complications related to pregnancy. Globally, pregnancy-related complications are one of the leading causes of death among girls aged 15 to 19.

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