Sep 18, 20 yemen s human rights minister has vowed to ban child marriage after the reported death of an eightyearold girl on her wedding night huriya mashhoor said she would press parliament for the. Child marriage in yemen april 2011 in yemen, one in three women ages 20 to 24 report that they were married before their 18th birthday. According to a unicef study from september 2016,in six governorates, early marriage was alarmingly widespread 18. In rural yemen, usaids safe age of marriage project used community mobilization efforts.
The girl forced to marry at 11 whose story exposes. Dec 14, 20 while many children in yemen suffer from poverty, malnutrition, and high rates of illiteracy, child marriage exposes many more to devastating consequences. It says that 25 percent of girls in yemen marry before the age of 15. If a woman has to divorce a man in yemen she has to provide reasons, and she can only have one husband. According to human rights watch figures from 2006, 14% of girls are married by the time they are 15, and more than 50% before the age of 18. Jenny cuffe, child marriage and divorce in yemen, bbc news, available at. Yemens ministry of social affairs is a government group. Yemeni child bride sentenced to death as man 5 times her age. The tragic tales of child brides in the middle east and north africa are many, and these named victims represent only a small fraction of the children affected. According to a survey from unicef and the government of yemen, in 2006, 14% and 52% of girls are married before the ages of 15 years and 18 years, respectively. Child marriages on the rise amid yemeni conflict the. Ippf in collaboration with the forum on marriage and the.
Sanaa, april, 27, 2014 the yemeni government should expedite passage of a draft child rights law establishing 18 as yemens minimum marriage age. At the national level, most countries with high rates of child marriage have legally established the minimum age of marriage at 18 to end the practice. Child marriage has long been a scourge in yemen, one of the few countries in the region without a legal minimum age of marriage. In a humanitarian crisis caused by the war, children are bearing much. Oct 01, 20 child marriages are scandalously common in yemen. Sep 10, 20 sanaa, april, 27, 2014 the yemeni government should expedite passage of a draft child rights law establishing 18 as yemens minimum marriage age. Rights group urges yemen to ban child marriage cbs news. This paper focuses on child marriage in the arab world because there has been a recent reporting on the prevalence of the practice in that part of the world. A national demographic and health survey in 20 found that nearly 32 per cent of girls in yemen were married before the age of 18, including 9. Ending child, early and forced marriage in yemen equitas. Ending child marriage and meeting the needs of married. Yemen, the impact of child marriage on children in yemen, and the. The issue of yemens child brides received widespread attention four years ago, when an 8yearold girl boldly went by herself to a courtroom and demanded a. Islamic law and custom guide contemporary yemeni marriages, although government regulations establishing ceilings on brideprice are often ignored.
Child marriage is most common in aljawf and albaidha governorates. Yemen sanctions regulations regulations for details. Oct 04, 2010 sanaa, yemen cnn yemen s parliament has delayed a vote on a child marriage law that would have raised the minimum legal age for marriage to 17. Child marriage remains a widely ignored violation of the health and. Mar 07, 2017 the government of yemen sharia legislative is blocking attempts to increase the marriege age of girls by stating that this law is unislamic. Women and girls in yemen have severely limited rights when entering or attempting to leave a marriage. Yemen is one of only two countries in the world that as no legislation on the minimum age for marriage. Combat, or marriage a camp of displaced yemenis in the western village of khamer. This practical tool documents the special needs of child brides and outlines. Yemens civil society and government organizations, with the support of international development agencies, are working hard to combat early marriage. In tribes and cities old and new, it is very much an active practice to marry daughters as young as 5 years old to men old enough to be their grandfathers. Dating and marriage practices in yemen dating tips. Current yemen sanctions block the property and interests in property of persons determined by the secretary of the treasury, after consultation with the secretary of state, to.
The main reason why fathers marry off their girls is because of poverty. Bbc news middle east child marriage and divorce in yemen. Thanks to unicef and unfpa jordan, lebanon, yemen, sudan, morocco and egypt country. In january 2015, after pressure from activists, yemen set a minimum age of 18 for marriage in a new constitution. But then the war began and the houthis did not ratify the document. According to human rights watch figures from 2006, 14% of girls are married by the time they are 15, and more than 50% before the age of. Nov 06, 2008 although yemen has a law stating that 15 is the marriageable age, it is frequently flouted, particularly in poor rural areas where society is run along tribal lines. In 1999 yemens parliament, citing religious grounds, abolished article 15 of yemens personal status law, which set the minimum age for marriage for boys and girls at 15. Child marriage in yemen, documents the lifelong damage to girls who are forced to marry young. This rise in child marriages in yemen is a visible indicator of the conflicts. The problem, says safa, is that early marriage, driven by patriarchal tradition and poverty, is justified as a solution for families, denying these young girls their rights to life and choice. Nkosazana dlaminizuma, chairperson, auc at the international conference on family planning, addis ababa, november 20 african union. In 1999, yemens parliament, citing religious grounds, abolished the legal minimum age for marriage for girls and boys, which was. Yemeni law does not permit marriage for girls younger than 15.
For example, in 12 of the 20 countries with the highest rates of child marriage, the legal age of marriage is 18 or older. And although there seems to be a positive trend over generations, yemen still has the highest rate of early marriage in western asia and is considered one of the top 20 hot spots for. The population is about 24 million and arabic is the official language, although english is increasingly understood by citizens in the major cities. Jul 07, 2016 in january 2015, after pressure from activists, yemen set a minimum age of 18 for marriage in a new constitution. Sep 17, 20 child marriage in yemen as yemen transitions politically and restructures its constitution, the number one priority should be to protect its citizensparticularly yemeni girls who are too often subject to child marriage. Jan 22, 2018 more than twothirds of yemeni girls are married off before they reach 18. Yemen has backtracked on protecting girls from forced marriage. Yemeni womens rights groups agree that child marriage is rampant in every part of yemeni. Minister calls for ban after death of eightyearold girl, the. Although yemen has been much less influenced by american or european ideas than other arab cultures, some outside influence does creep in through the internet and through yemeni communities in other countries. This rise in child marriages in yemen is a visible indicator of the conflicts disproportionate impact on children.
The yemen times newspaper reports that some girls are married as young as eight. Pages in category child marriage in yemen the following 6 pages are in this category, out of 6 total. The picture show national geographic magazine photographer stephanie sinclair documents the secret world of child brides in cultures around the world. As the girls are getting older, child marriage at such a young age is devastating. Child marriages on the rise amid yemeni conflict the national. On april 10, 2011 there 1 article 1 of the 1956 supplementary convention on the abolition of slavery, available at. Yemeni girls and women are being forced into child marriages by their families, and have little. Child marriage on the rise as conflict in yemen continues. This happens because, in some regions they want to follow their traditions and keep them sacred, when they need money or need to pay off debts, child marriage is the only option. In terms of scholarship and international attention, the region is often overshadowed by the child marriage hotspots of subsaharan africa and southeast asia. Yemens human rights minister has vowed to ban child marriage after the reported death of an eightyearold girl on her wedding night huriya mashhoor said.
From yemen where there is currently no minimum age for marriage, to libya where the. More than twothirds of yemeni girls are married off before they reach 18. Tragedy shines light on lives of yemeni child brides. Members of parliament have recently been debating an amendment raising the age limit to 18, but progress has ground to a halt in the face of strong opposition from conservatives. While child marriage was prevalent in yemen even before the conflict, the situation is far worse now. The legal marriage age of 16 for girls is also difficult to regulate because births are not routinely recorded. Yemen s law of personal status, based on shariah law, provides no minimum age for marriage. Yemeniamericans remain closely connected to their families in yemen, and often arrange marriages between young people from both countries.
From yemen where there is currently no minimum age for marriage, to libya where the minimum age is 20, early marriage is a varying problem in the middle east and north africa mena. The report includes similar findings as amnesty internationals yemen country profile in this years. Nujood ali, a former child bride in yemen, demonstrates outside parliament in sana, yemen, on march 23 in support of proposed legislation banning the marriage of girls under 17. While there is little information on the prevalence of child marriage in yemen, unicef estimates that 32% of girls are married before the age of 18.
In every region, the poor are most at risk of child marriage percentage of women aged 20 to 49 years who were married or in union before age 18, by place of residence. What drives child marriage in the arab world and how the. Yemen ratified the convention on the rights of the child in 1991, which sets a minimum age of marriage of 18, and acceded to the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women cedaw in 1984, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage. Yemen, there are sanctions only for women if there is some king kind of sexual abuse or if women try to escape the marriage or if women dont act as they are supposed to, likeaccording to how the national normative says they must. Oct 09, 2017 2 paths for yemens warscarred children. Child marriage in the middle east and north africa icmec. It will also consider how yemens new constitutional provisions or statutes on child marriage should be drafted and what other actions should be taken to end the practice of child marriage in yemen. Yemens next government should set minimum age at 18 beirut, december 8, 2011 widespread child marriage jeopardizes yemeni girls access to education, harms their health, and keeps them.
After years of decline, child marriages are skyrocketing in. Child marriage in the middle east and north africa. Child marriage also referred to as early or forced marriage8 is defined as any marriage carried. Girls who end up as brides at a tender age are coerced into having children while they are children themselves.
Call to action we must do away with child marriage. One of the first casualties when families are displaced and lose their incomes is girls, said unicefs spokesman in yemen, rajat madhok. Child marriage and rape is still legal in yemen 20 duration. Oct 10, 20 when 11yearold nada alahdals video, in which she explained why she was fleeing a forced marriage, went viral to view memri tv clip 3919, click here, nada was catapulted to fame, and the issue of child marriage in yemen, along with its often tragic consequences, was brought to the limelight. Young girls sit inside a home outside of al hudaydah. To make matters worse, child marriage rates are soaring. Child marriages have been common all over the world. In 1999, the government repealed a law setting age 15 as the minimum legal age for marriage. Nov 06, 2016 child marriage and rape is still legal in yemen 20 duration. A panel of yemen experts submitted a 329page report to the security council in january.
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