Marrying Very Young Girls

Green08 · 26 December 2008

I read this this morning as was quite sickened at the thought.

CNN) -- A group fighting for women's rights in Saudi Arabia condemned a judge Wednesday for refusing to annul the marriage of an 8-year-old girl to a 47-year-old man.

The group's co-founder, Wajeha al-Huwaider, told CNN that achieving human rights in the kingdom means standing against those who want to "keep us backward and in the dark ages."

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/12/24/saudi.arabia.child.bride/index.html

Now in most other countries it would fall under child abuse.

Amazing how they use "marriage" as some legal form to abuse children. Sure they may not look at it like this but as a mother that's what I feel.

Don't take children's childhoods away they are short enough as it is.

agathos · 26 December 2008

Is there something we can do at ASF?
something that someone can initiate and we can send the OZ embassy in saudi for them to forward to the judge who pass such a shameless act ????

I came from such barbaric background too - barbaric in a different guise.

My home was pulled down with thick ropes by legitimate police simply because my family did not pay them a small bribe.

in the country where we came from, Chinese students who get 10 A in their University Entrance exams only get to do a miserable social Science degree in a lousy whereas the "preferred" race who gets 4D and 1 C or worst can get to do Medicine.

No wonder there was reports they diagnose their patient's with a pencil, rather than using their hands. They say they can't touch the body parts of another gender. Why practice medicine in the first place? Even the "preferred race's own Prime Minister chided his own people for such childish behavior!!!

There's LOTS of shameful behavior in he 21st century world!!!!

MrBurns · 26 December 2008

Basically I think many parts of the world just plain suck, but we're insulated here in Australia, spoiled in fact , we seem to think it all should be like us but it's not , it's ugly out there in many regions and I dont think there's a lot you can do about it.
Try giving womens right to Muslim women, even those living in Australia, and see how far you get.

Garpal Gumnut · 26 December 2008

I have hesitated before responding on this thread as it involves elements of racial and religious presumptions.

Nonetheless the safety of children is paramount..

Childhood is for children and the sexualisation of 8 yo girls or boys is anathema to Western thought.

Islam and the Middle East seem to tolerate this obscenity, incredibly traumatising for these children.

I am of Celtic/Saxon ancestry and would assume that the barter of children to powerful old men would have been prevalent 1 to 2000 years ago in my previous culture..

The Islamists and Middle Easterners need to catch up.

It must be finished.

gg

MrBurns · 26 December 2008

Garpal Gumnut said:
I have hesitated before responding on this thread as it involves elements of racial and religious presumptions.

Nonetheless the safety of children is paramount..

Childhood is for children and the sexualisation of 8 yo girls or boys is anathema to Western thought.

Islam and the Middle East seem to tolerate this obscenity, incredibly traumatising for these children.

I am of Celtic/Saxon ancestry and would assume that the barter of children to powerful old men would have been prevalent 1 to 2000 years ago in my previous culture..

The Islamists and Middle Easterners need to catch up.

It must be finished.

gg

Well at this stage of the game rather then us over running them it's the other way round, they breed faster ,are tolerated in Western society, because they have their "rights" (we aren't tolerated by them) and are taking over Europe at this very moment, did you know the most popular boys name in England in Muhammed ?
It was number 2 as at June last year but was expected the rise to the top.

Green08 · 26 December 2008

Ten Facts About Child Brides and Child Marriage

Forced Marriages Put Girls Under 18 at Greater Health and Economic Risks
By Linda Lowen, About.com

Filed In:Violence Against Women The International Center for Research on Women, regarded as the leading international institution on gender and development, provides the following data on child marriage:

1. Worldwide, an estimated 51 million girls younger than 18 are child brides.

2. The majority of child marriages occur in West and East Africa and South Asia.

3. Over the next decade, another 100 million girls will become child brides.

4. Child marriage endangers girls.
Child brides experience a higher incidence of domestic violence, marital abuse (including physical, sexual or psychological abuse) and abandonment.

5. Child marriage increases maternal mortality and infant mortality rates.

6. Many child brides are well below 15.
Although the median age of marriage for child brides is 15, some as young as 7 or 8 are forced into marriage.

7. Risk factors for young teen girls who give birth are greatly increased.
Girls who become pregnant under age 15 are five times more likely to die in childbirth than women who give birth in their 20s.

8. Sexual disparity in child marriages increases risk of AIDS.
Because many often marry older men with more sexual experience, child brides face a higher risk of contracting HIV.

9. Child marriage adversely impacts the education of girls
In some of the poorest countries, girls readied for early marriage do not attend school. Those that do are frequently forced to drop out after marriage.

10. The prevalence of child marriage is related to poverty levels.
Child brides are more likely to come from a poor family and once married, are more likely to continue living in poverty. In some countries, child marriages among the poorest fifth of the population occur at rates up to five times that of the richest fifth.

Green08 · 26 December 2008

Top 20 “Hot Spot” Countries for Child Marriage

Ranking Country Percent Married Younger than 18

1 Niger 76.6
2 Chad 71.5
3 Bangladesh 68.7
4 Mali 65.4
5 Guinea 64.5
6 Central African Republic 57.0
7 Nepal 56.1
8 Mozambique 55.9
9 Uganda 54.1
10 Burkina Faso 51.9
11 India 50.0
12 Ethiopia 49.1
13 Liberia 48.4
13 Yemen 48.4
15 Cameroon 47.2
16 Eritrea 47.0
17 Malawi 46.9
18 Nicaragua 43.3
18 Nigeria 43.3
20 Zambia 42.1
Source: Demographic Health Survey (DHS) Data

www.icrw.org/docs/2007-childmarriagepolicy.pdf

MrBurns · 26 December 2008

Green08 said:
Top 20 “Hot Spot” Countries for Child Marriage

Ranking Country Percent Married Younger than 18

www.icrw.org/docs/2007-childmarriagepolicy.pdf

Probably need the figures for 15 or under, many people in Britain for instance used to marry at 16, seemed to be almost the norm in the past anyway.

Really need the figures for the very young thats where the real child abuse lies.

Not that any of this helps, I don't know what anyone is doing about it, there is no moral policeman that I know of, the Catholic and Anglican churches could combine their immense wealth to do something but I don't see any action there, just words.

Green08 · 26 December 2008

In Bangladesh, nearly 70 percent of girls are married before 18.
Although the median age of marriage for girls is 15, the incidence
of child marriage spikes earlier at 13. This “tipping point” is 13
to 14 years in most of the top 20 countries with the highest child
marriage prevalence.

Source: ICRW analysis of Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data. 2007

gordon2007 · 26 December 2008

agathos said:
Is there something we can do at ASF?

Get real. As sad and as much of a travesty as this is, a stock forum, has about as much tooth as a 90yr old bangeldash grandmother.

Green08 · 26 December 2008

Here is an extract

Legislative provisions in many countries allow for child marriage with parental consent, which in the context of traditional societies does little to preserve the rights of girl children. In Algeria, Chad, Costa Rica, Lebanon, Libya, Romania and Uruguay, the law allows a perpetrator of rape - including rape of a minor - to be pardoned of his crime if he marries his victim. In the case of a young victim, stigma, shame, coercion and ignorance of the law, along with a multitude of other factors, may prevent her from exercising her legal right to refuse such a marriage. In Ethiopia, illegal “abduction marriages”, where men kidnap young girls and consummate the marriage with rape, remain prevalent in some rural settings. In a study conducted among 227 Ethiopian wives, 60 percent said they had been abducted before age 15, and 93 percent before age 20

http://brokendreams.wordpress.com/2006/09/12/child-marriage-part-2/

Mr Burns, It is an onerous task to control the cultural and sickening psychology of others. We can only protect our own children and make them aware, beyond stranger danger

MrBurns · 26 December 2008

Green08 said:
Here is an extract

http://brokendreams.wordpress.com/2006/09/12/child-marriage-part-2/

Mr Burns, It is an onerous task to control the cultural and sickening psychology of others. We can only protect our own children and make them aware, beyond stranger danger

Someone will do something one day, this is the epitome of the battle of good against evil, we have to be vigilant that this is decreasing no matter how slowly not increasing, thats all we can do and I think it's a great shame that more isn't being done, I mean they can move when they want to ie: economic bailouts but when children are systematically abused these great men do nothing.

mayk · 26 December 2008

If you study it more closely, it is not marriage, it is almost selling their daughter for money or to reduce their burden on a family, in horrible words, to get rid of them.

The Arab nations around 1500 years ago had another simple solution (which can be seen in modern China), of burying their daughters alive....

Especially in some real poor countries (e.g. Bangladesh , India), older rich men can purchase women. It is the worst part of slavery, sanctioned by state. Almost criminal, but the poverty situation generally give rise to such incidents.

Well most of the problems of the modern world can be easily tracked down to poverty, which give rise to the lack of education, which incidentally results in the curtailment of human rights and give rise to violence/terrorism.

Poverty is the conducive environment where these kinds of germs grow. But the solution is not to impose Western values in a society which is not ready, but to help these nations overcome their poverty which can help eradicate these problems.

Green08 · 26 December 2008

There is a terrible taking of innocence in these child brides.

Families such as Shah who has now given his 9 year old daughter Khalida in exchange for a debt off some $2,000 which he was unable to repay after a government crop-eradication team destroyed the families two and a half acre poppy field. ” Now the family can only wait for the 45-year-old drug runner to come back for his prize. Khalida wanted to be a teacher someday, but that has become impossible. “It’s my fate,” the child says.”

http://images.google.com.au/imgres?...des+nepal&um=1&hl=en&rlz=1T4GGLJ_enAU226AU226

mayk · 26 December 2008

Green08 said:
Poppy Crop

Well two wrongs don't make a right, it is as if the blame is on the government for eradicating the menace of drugs. It is all her father's fault, he should spend the rest of time with his lender not his children. Blame shifting is rampant. I feel sorry for that child.

Green08 · 26 December 2008

Of course I feel sorry for her and many like her.

I am not trying to transfer blame only to highlight what many do not want to see.

Children are precious they need love and stability - only a small percentage will receive what they truely deserve.

Wysiwyg · 26 December 2008

This is a stupid/sickly custom and I pity the girls.

Here are some other customs that are also wrong but tell that to the country.There is a certain degree of sanity in the "western world" and life is freer for most of us.

In Indonesia it is considered extremely rude to point with the forefinger. It is especially rude if the pointing is towards a person. When pointing the Indonesian uses his thumb.

It is a common sight in Indonesia to see people with a very long fingernail on one or the other finger of the left hand. The purpose of this is related to the fact that public toilets are extremely rare and often non-existent making it necessary to use whatever facility is available. As a consequence toilet paper is equally rare – thus the long fingernail.

A eunuch is a castrated man; the term usually refers to those castrated in order to perform a specific social function, as was common in many societies of the past. In ancient China castration was both a traditional punishment (until the Sui Dynasty) and a means of gaining employment in the Imperial service.

Eunuchs castrated before puberty were also valued and trained in several cultures for their exceptional voices, which retained a childlike and other-worldly flexibility and treble pitch.

Sati was a Hindu funeral custom, now very rare and a serious criminal act in India, in which the dead man’s widow would throw herself on her husband’s funeral pyre in order to commit suicide. The act of sati was supposed to take place voluntarily, and from the existing accounts, most of them were indeed voluntary. The act may have been expected of widows in some communities.

Concubinage is the state of a woman or youth in an ongoing, quasi-matrimonial relationship with a man of higher social status. Typically, the man has an official wife in addition to one or more concubines. Concubines have limited rights of support from the man, and their offspring are publicly acknowledged as the man’s children, albeit of lower status than children born by the official wife or wives.

Historically, concubinage was frequently voluntary (by the girl and/or her family’s arrangement), as it provided a measure of economic security for the woman involved. Involuntary, or servile, concubinage sometimes involves sexual slavery of one member of the relationship, typically the woman

.

Boggo · 26 December 2008

Didn'nt that Mohammed dude start this nonsense, he is the most respected paedophile in the backward world where these dropkicks exist.

"Numerous people have said that Mohammed had sex with his youngest wife, ‘Aisha, daughter of Abu Bakr, when he was about 53 and she was only nine years old. Some Muslims deny that. If somebody were to claim Mohammed and ‘Aisha had sex when she was nine, and they were wrong, that would be a serious slander against Mohammed. On the other hand, if it were true, that would show a very different side of Mohammed that would shock many. So is this accusation against Mohammed true or false?

This paper will first give the evidence for A’isha being nine when her marriage was consummated, then raise 11 objections to this, and finally, ask what if each view were correct.

This is important to a widely practiced but overlooked practice today: child brides in Muslim lands due to Mohammed’s example.

In Iran as of June 2002 it is legal for a 9 year old girl to marry with her parents’ permission. Voices Behind the Veil p.136-137"

mayk · 27 December 2008

Hope it corrects some of your facts Boggo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aisha

Age Controversy

Generally, it is accepted that Aisha was between eighteen to twenty years old at the time of her marriage to Muhammad. However, the topic is controversial due to a narrative existing in the Hadith literature that claims Aisha was six years old. While proven incorrect due to historical conflict in chronology, the claim is often promoted in Orientalist literature.

classer · 27 December 2008

mayk said:
Hope it corrects some of your facts Boggo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aisha

Never trust wiki

Volume 7, Book 62, Number 88; Narrated Ursa: The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death).

Marrying Very Young Girls

Green08

agathos

MrBurns

Garpal Gumnut

Ross Island Hotel

MrBurns

Green08

Green08

MrBurns

Green08

gordon2007

Green08

MrBurns

mayk

Green08

mayk

Green08

Wysiwyg

Everyone wants money

Boggo

mayk

classer

Marrying Very Young Girls

Ross Island Hotel

Everyone wants money

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