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Child marriage: a video series with Nada Al-Ahdal

Published 9 July 2019 in Nada's blog

Nada Foundation was set up to tackle child marriage and to teach the public about the harm it does to the individual, to society and to the economy of Yemen.

To this end, the foundation put together an extensive file on the effects of this violation of children's human rights and produced a comprehensive report. The report was then divided into sections and made into short videos.

The videos explain the link between child marriage and domestic violence, and its devastating effects on the child who is married. They also cover its wider effects on society, including lower economic output and the spread of disease and epidemics.

What child marriage is

Child marriage is:

• one of the crimes against humanity committed against young girls
• a gross violation of human rights
• the killing of childhood innocence, and a cry of nations for rights and freedoms

Just as the recruitment of children violates the rights of boys, the marriage of minors violates the rights of girls.

But the marriage of minors is a bigger offence than the recruitment of children. It happens in every country, while the recruitment of children mostly happens in countries in armed conflict.

Introduction to child marriage

More than 700 million children in the world were married before the age of 18 and live with the suffering today.

More than 150 million men in the world suffer from underage marriage.

Every year, 15 million girls marry before the age of 18. Every minute, more than 28 girls marry: one girl every 2 seconds. Every minute, we lose dozens of girls.

If these marriages are not stopped, the number of underage marriages in the world could reach 1.2 billion by 2050. This would have serious consequences for the world at many levels.

No country is free of this practice, which kills human rights, and developing countries least of all.

Reasons for child marriage

Unjust, cruel and painful traditions and habits lie behind it. Our parents became victims of wrong habits that killed girls, and these habits are still killing more and more girls today.

Fathers believe that marrying a girl young preserves her honour, secures her future and protects her from staying unmarried, as happened with the girls before her. They forget that marriage kills her future, destroys her life, deprives her of education and holds society back.

The dangers of child marriage

The video cites reliable studies saying that most of these girls end up dying during pregnancy or childbirth, because their bodies cannot bear it.

If a girl survives, a host of serious problems still harm her own interests and affect society as a whole.

Violations against minors in Yemen in 2017

Nada Foundation monitored violations against minors in Yemen in 2017. It recorded:

• more than 250 girls forcibly married for social reasons or because of hard living conditions; most were displaced by the war, or were exploited after losing their parents or their homes
• 6 women who took their own lives in the capital Sana'a and in Ibb and Mahweet
• 12 girls who died on the wedding night (the "Dokhla", the first night of marriage) in Hodeidah, Rayma, Taiz and Mahweet
• 45 children who died in childbirth, some of whom also lost their babies, in the hospitals of Hajjah and Hodeidah and in some rural areas
• 120 girls taken to hospital in the first weeks of marriage
• 69 cases of child marriage whose outcome is still unknown

What if a girl finished her education before marriage?

What if a girl completed her education and married after the legal age, by her own choice?

Let us imagine that this is our society, and these are our customs and traditions: that we see underage girls the way we see boys.

My message to the world about child marriage

Today we must all stand against these violations. They destroy the souls of their victims. They also destroy the coming generations, raised by mothers whose rights were violated in childhood.

These mothers were taken by force to adults' beds while they were still playing with their childhood friends. They were taken from their school desks to carry responsibility for a family larger than any child can bear.

We must say with one voice: childhood is not a product for sale, and a girl is not for trade. It must be recognised that every girl, anywhere in the world, must enjoy rights that are guaranteed and protected.

Watch the full episode with Nada Al-Ahdal