Yemen human rights minister calls for child marriage ban

Nujood Ali, divorced at 10.

Last week an eight-year-old girl reportedly died following her marriage to man in his 40’s. It was reported that Rawan died last week after suffering from internal bleeding following sexual intercourse. Yemen’s rights minister said she was going to press for the minimum age of marriage to be raised to 18. 

Yemen does not have a minimum age requirement for marriage currently. A previous bill was introduced in 2009 that would have set the age minimum at 17. The bill was shelved after being blocked by ultraconservative lawmakers from the Islamist Al-Islah party. 

Huriya Mashhoor, Yemen’s rights minister, said she wanted to revive the bill and amend the age from 17 to 18. She said, “I wrote to the president of the chamber of deputies to re-file on the parliamentary agenda the bill limiting the age of marriage. We are asking to fix the legal age for marriage at 18, as Yemen is a signatory to the international conventions on children’s rights.”

Mashhoor made these statements after the government formed a committee to investigate reports about the eight-year-old girls death.  The governor of the Hajja province is claiming that Rawan is still alive. 

Ali a-Qaissi, the governor, told the official news agency SABA, “the young girl Rawan Abdo Hattan is still alive and normally lives with her family who, in turn, deny the whole thing.” He also added, “the young girl is currently in a social protection centre after undergoing physical and psychological tests in a public hospital.”

Mashhoor believed, prior to the government’s investigation and the governor’s announcement, that there could have been an attempt to silence the matter and cover up actual events.

Data from the United Nations in 2006 shows that 14 percent of girls in Yemen are married before the age of 15 and 52 percent are married before 18.  

Child marriage in Yemen quickly caught the attention of the world in 2008 when Nujood Ali, a 10-year-old, demanded a divorce from her 30-year-old abusive husband. Shortly after Nujood Ali bravely stood up for herself, Arwa Abdu Muhammad, came forward to complain that her husband had been beating and sexually abusing her for eight months. Arwa was 9-years-old at the time. 

(Photo: Book cover, public domain, wikimedia commons.)

Rape, Massacres, Child Soldiers used in Syrian Civil War

Child holds bullet casings (creative commons: hdptcar)

Today, the United Nations Human Rights Council issued the International Commission of Inquiry on Syria reporting that the conflict in the country has taken a dangerous turn. Human rights violations are taking place on both sides. The Syrian government has been responsible for violations including torture, murder, rape and the recruitment and use of child soldiers against the civilian population. The anti-government Syrian rebels were also named in the report for committing human atrocities.

The rebels, according to the report, “have committed war crimes, including murder, execution without due process, torture, hostage-taking and attacking protected objects.”

The Syrian rebels have been accused of recruiting and using child soldiers, too.

 Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the Commission, told the press, “Tens of thousands of lives have been lost. Over six million Syrians have fled their homes, each with a story of devastation and loss. Entire communities now live in tents or containers outside Syria's borders, with millions more displaced inside Syria. A society has been ripped apart. Failure to bring about a political settlement has allowed the conflict not only to deepen in its intransigence but also to widen – expanding to new actors and to new, previously unimaginable crimes. For the Commission, charged with investigating violations of international law committed by all parties to the conflict, any response must be founded upon the protection of civilians. The nature of the war raging in Syria is such that the number of violations by all sides goes hand in hand with the intensity of the conflict itself."

Chemical weapon findings were not in the report which reflected findings from May 15 to July 15 of this year. France and the United States are convinced that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons on its civilian population. The report found that the Syrian government was responsible for 8 massacres during the time frame of the report and that the rebel group was responsible for one.

 The Commission believes that external military force could make matters worse for the people living in the country. They are hopeful that a political settlement can be met before it is too late. How far do human rights violations have to go before something is done to stop the madness? It has already escalated to murder, rape, torture, child soldiers and chemical weapons. Isn’t time to say enough’s enough?