There have been reports that an 8 year old ‘Child Bride’ from Yemen died on her wedding night after being forced to marry a man of 40. These reports have caused an outcry in Western Media and Yemeni Officials are denying the claims, but whether or not this specific case is true or not now seems not to matter. The issues behind child marriages are now on the public’s agenda, and for good reason.
The reports surfaced when local people and a leading rights campaigner from the province of Hajjeh, in North West Yemen, claimed that a young girl, identified as Rawan, had died from internal bleeding after her wedding night with a man of 40. This may be shocking for some, but it is not the first time a story like this has emerged. Back in 2010, a 13 year old child bride, named Ilham Mahdi al Assi, died in the same awful circumstances, in her case after marrying a man of 23; and a 12 year old died after struggling for three days to give birth to her 24 year old husband’s baby.
The issue of ‘child brides’ has become common place in Yemen, with poor families feeling pressured into marrying their children to older men in return for money, somewhat like the ‘dowry’ process formerly common-place in the West. Cases such as these, however, concerning children as young as 8 years old being hurt, or even killed, have caused international outcry, and with good reason.
Arwa Othman, the leading rights campaigner aforementioned, and head of the Yemen House of Folklore, stated:
“On the wedding night and after intercourse, [Rawan] suffered from bleeding and uterine rupture which caused her death… They took her to a clinic but the medics couldn’t save her life.” (Reuters News Agency)
Whilst there have been claims that this specific case and statement is false, it most definitely cannot be denied that child marriages, and injury to many young girls in these situations, occur in Yemen. Through Rawan’s story, these issues have been brought to the forefront of international media and, with this, not only is there a call for those responsible to be prosecuted, but the case for moving towards a legal ban against child marriages in Yemen has become stronger than ever. Hooria Mashhour, Yemen’s human rights minister, is now attempting to pass the law that has so far been ignored and avoided.
In a statement this week, Baroness Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief, called on the Yemeni government..
“…to abide by its obligations under international law, including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, of which Yemen is a member, and to immediately reinstate legislation setting a minimum age for marriage, in line with international norms, to prohibit such abuse of children.”
However, whilst the Yemeni government has been said to be dealing with the situation “seriously”, it would seem that a serious, immediate change in the laws on this issue are unlikely. Many claim that such changes are against the culture and tradition of the country, and opinions are emerging that ‘the west’ are, once again, imposing their beliefs and ideals in other areas of the world – interfering where they perhaps should not.
However, in cases such as these, where young girls face ordeals that they arguably should not, or could not, ever understand, there is surely a strong argument that concern is most definitely not of a political, or particularly ‘western’ perspective… but simply of a human one. The protection and care of children is one that comes naturally to most of us, and stories such as these are not ones that most of us can simply sit back and forget.
Reports will follow on any progress made concerning the child marriage laws in Yemen.