Child marriage denies girls of their childhood, deprives ... - Go Dubai

REGIONAL REPORT
REGIONAL REPORT
MARRIED
There is a government effort
AT 8
Anybody below 18 years old is underage – that’s
the agreement according to the International
Convention on the Rights of a Child. Yet, according
to the washington DC-based International Centre
for Research on women (ICRw), 48 per cent of
Yemeni girls are already married before they reach
that age. Girls as young as eight – child brides –
are married to men who can be their fathers, or in
some cases, even grandfathers.
to change the system.
However, this is being
blocked by traditional clerics.
IRIN (Integrated Regional
Information Networks), a project of
the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Efforts, reports that ‘prior
to the unification of Yemen in 1990, the
law set the minimum age of marriage
at 16 in South Yemen, and 15 in the
north. After unification, the law was set
at 15. In 1999, the civil status law was
amended and the minimum age was
abolished’.
In February 2009, the age of marriage
was increased to 17, but this was sent
back to the parliament’s constitutional
committee for review. Lawmakers
declared the law ‘un-Islamic’. The law
also stipulates that child brides should
not sleep with their husbands until they
reach puberty. However, this law is often
ignored.
Extreme poverty pushes families to
marry off their little girls at such young
ages. when they get married, their family
not only receive dowries that help them
financially – or write off debt in some
cases – but the child also transfers to
the husband’s household, removing her
from her family’s financial burdens.
There is also a moral spin to it. Families
think they are saving their daughters
from being raped, subjected to other
forms of sexual assault, or getting
pregnant outside of marriage. Gender
discrimination also comes into play.
with girls married off young, the
husbands ensure their obedience
and subservience. Studies reveal that
women who are child brides are more
likely to believe that it is acceptable for
husbands to beat their wives.
Early marriages expose the child to
many risks: lack of education, violence,
abuse, sexual exploitation and health
problems. The girls are exposed to high
risk pregnancies and difficult childbirth
due to poor health and underdeveloped
bodies, sexually transmitted diseases,
and other health complications.
“Child marriages violate the rights of
children in the most deplorable way. The
younger the girl is when she becomes
pregnant, the greater the health risks for
her and her baby. Girls who give birth
before the age of 15 are five times more
likely to die in childbirth than women
in their 20s,” declared a UN Statement
in September 2009, after the death
of Fawziya Youssef, a 12-year-old girl
from Yemen, who suffered three days
of protracted labour. Her baby was
stillborn.
“Child marriage denies girls of their
childhood, deprives them of an
education and robs them of their
innocence. Tragedies like these
underscore the urgent need to better
protect the rights of women and
children, particularly girls,” the statement
also said. Forced by poverty, Fawziya’s
family had married her to a 24-year old
man the year before.
Fawziya is only one among the 430
women in Yemen who die out of
every 100,000 because of child birth.
According to UNICEF, most of these
maternal deaths are because of early
pregnancies.
Dead after four days of marriage
In April this year, the death of Elham
Assi, a 13-year-old Yemeni girl, who
died only after four days of marriage
to a 23-year old man, hit international
news. The girl died of excessive
bleeding after being tied and sexually
abused repeatedly. The girl’s mother,
Nijma Ahmad said her daughter “looked
like she was butchered”.
Child marriage
denies girls of
their childhood,
deprives them
of an education
and robs
them of their
innocence
UN Statement
According to Gulf News, the husband
was adamant to prove his manhood
despite the girl’s refusal to consummate
the marriage. He went to a medical
clinic and asked for tranquilisers to
make the young bride physically unable
to resist. The hospital refused. Back at
their home, the groom tied her up and
forced himself on her.
The next day, he brought her to the
clinic, limp but still alive. The doctors
who treated her warned the husband
to stay away from Elham to let her heal.
He did not heed the warning. when
Nijma visited Elham, she found her
slipping in and out of consciousness.
The husband’s explanation was that
the girl was possessed by evil spirits
and that he will bring her to a local folk
healer. Elham died a few hours later.
Forensics revealed further damage to
the girl’s sexual organs, suggesting
further contact even after the doctor’s
warning.
Annulled at 8
In another case, an 8-year-old child
managed to get her marriage to a
20-year old man annulled. Nojoud
Mohammed Ali was pulled out of
school and married off, and her
husband ignored the law declaring that
he cannot sleep with her until she is in
puberty.
“A week after signing, my mother and
father forced me to go and live with
him,” BBC News quotes the little girl.
She was beaten and raped within
weeks of the wedding. She escaped
from her husband’s house by taking a
cab to the central courthouse, where
she demanded to see a judge.
Luckily, a lawyer heard about her case
and decided to represent her. with
luck still on her side, her case was
heard by a judge who does not stick to
traditions, and gave her an annulment
instead of a divorce. This way, the
husband cannot seek to reinstate the
wedlock. Nojoud is now living happily
with her maternal uncle and his eight
children, and is looking forward to
going back to primary school.
Stark reminder
Elham, Nojoud and Fawziya are just a
few faces among millions of children all
over the world being forced into early
marriages every year. The decisions are
made by their parents or their guardians
– mature individuals who are supposed
to be protecting them. These cases are
stark reminders that the practice of child
brides should be stopped.
“Families think child marriage is a good
thing… that it comes directly from Islam.
They don’t understand the dangers,”
Ahmad Al-Qureishi of Seyaj, a Yemeni
children’s rights group, told ABC News.
“Child marriage is a violation of human
rights whether it happens to a girl or
a boy, but it represents perhaps the
most prevalent form of sexual abuse
and exploitation of girls. The harmful
consequences include separation from
family and friends, lack of freedom to
interact with peers and participate in
community activities, and decreased
opportunities for education. Child
marriage can also result in bonded
labour or enslavement, commercial
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REGIONAL REPORT
According to
UNICEF, women
with primary
education are
significantly
less likely to
be married or
in union as
children, than
those without
education
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Source: BBC News, Unicef.org, IRIN, ICRW AND GULF NEWS
sexual exploitation and violence against
the victims. Because they cannot
abstain from sex or insist on condom
use, child brides are often exposed to
such serious health risks as premature
pregnancy, sexually transmitted
infections and, increasingly, HIV/
AIDS,” reads a UNICEF child protection
information sheet.
Governments should also have clear
punishment systems for rapists
and sex offenders and enforce it.
Getting raped or sexually abused
is one of parents’ fears and reason
for marrying of their children young.
Child marriages may be a family’s
solution to financial obligations, but
the practice itself enforces the cycle of
poverty. Rearing children well, giving
them proper education and enhancing
their knowledge and skills through
government, non-government and
private or civil programmes would allow
them to grow up productive members
of society.
Ending the practice of child marriages
is going to be difficult, but it is possible
with awareness and dedication. Studies
have proven that there is a direct
co-relation between education and the
number of women being entered into
child marriages. According to UNICEF,
women with primary education are
significantly less likely to be married or
in union as children, than those without
education. Governments should also
see to it that laws are passed enforcing
that 18 years old as the legal and
acceptable marriageable age for both
men and women. NGOs, parents,
individuals and the society as a whole
should also be more vigilant and lobby
for such developments to ensure that
children’s rights are observed.
Painful facts
• 7 per cent of girls in Nepal are
married before 10 years old, 40
per cent are married before 15
• 29 per cent of young brides
in Egypt are beaten by their
husbands or relatives
• Highest cause of mortality of girls
from 15-19 years old worldwide
are pregnancy-related
• Extreme cases of child marriages
occur in Democratic Republic
of Congo, Afghanistan and
Bangladesh
• 60 million women worldwide were
wed before they were 18 years
old, half of which live in South Asia
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