Ganda one of children brides in Yemen She was 15 years old when she became pregnant with her third child – for three years she is married to a older man who had found her father out of necessity.
“My family is poor,” he explained. Her father “accepted the first marriage proposal they had made to him, not only for me but also for my sisters, without thinking that we were monks.”
The marriage of a minor girls in Yemen existed in the country before the civil war. However, the years of hard battles have aggravated the problem. Hunger threatens the population, while the “lucky” survive with bread and water. For families like Ganda, children are an unbearable exit.
So Ganda got married at 12. Within a year, she gave birth to a little girl. Her husband, who wanted a son, abused her and forbade her to get out of the house. She was allowed to see her family only when she gave birth to her second child, a boy.
Gandle begged her father to let her go home. However, the family did not have the means to maintain more people. She returned to her husband and became pregnant for the third time.
Not seeing any way out, Ganda tried to commit suicide with pesticides who stole from her husband. Her sister -in -law saved her, but she was unable to return home. It seemed that her life had been decided on her.
Hundreds of millions of girls children – brides
Ganda’s story is not unique. Weddings with children is not a phenomenon concerning only Yemenbut they are widespread in countries that have been destroyed by war and volatility.
All over the world, Hundreds of millions of girls have their own stories of abusemarried to men often much greater than these, as a result of trafficking in people, cultural rules or, in fact, because there are no clear alternatives to a better life.
Ganda’s story may not be unique. However, it is relatively rare to have a happy ending.
It was the kindness of a neighbor who saved her. She was transferred, together with her mother, to a safe space supported by the UN and referred to psychiatric care before a lawyer helping her to ensure the custody of her children.
Under 10 years …
THE Edmund Fitton Brown, UK Ambassador to Yemen between 2015 and 2017, He told the Daily Mail that before the war, it was common for young girls, “often under 10 years”, marrying men much older than them.
He said he remembers hearing about girls just eight years old who got married.
“Part of the motivation was economical as it relied on the financial burden of the family. Also for protection and for the creation of a family alliance. “
“All of these factors have become more and more powerful.”
Yemen has not determined a minimum legal age for marriage. And Houthi’s “violent and aggressive” ideology has limited women’s rights from taking power in 2014, and has limited the ability of families to oppose imposed marriages.
Rarely do families react and win. In 2020, an exception became headlines when The mother of a 12 -year -old girl, Hed, managed to make a court ruling to cancel a marriage that committed her daughter to a 30 -year -old prisoner.
Her mother was threatened, while Hind’s brothers were forced to marry and have children.
Relief organizations, such as UNFPA, are in many cases the only salvation.
Domestic violence and Aids
Girls who get married before the age of 18 are, on average, more likely to suffer domestic violence, abandon school and miss the opportunity to develop skills and relationships outside the home.
UNICEF reports that minor brides are more likely to be infected by HIV/AIDS virusto have children while they are still children and die due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth.
Today, there are More than 650 million women suffering from the immediate consequences of such a marriage. Global elements have diminished in recent years, but world volatility is creating new threats to children’s lives around the world.
In Yemen, more than two -thirds of girls are getting married today before the age of 18. Before escalating the conflict, this percentage was about one in two.
It’s not just the war that creates the conditions for such a marriage. Poverty and broader insecurity lead parents to separate from their children, either in the hope of offering them a better life or to reduce costs.