TIME CODE

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Yemen is the poorest country in the Arab world. Following the Spring of 2011 it has been left with a dangerous power vacuum. It's arid, stricken by a high rate of illiteracy, crippled by ancient traditions, and is also one of the most conservative countries. In rural areas a strict interpretation of Islam dictates the way of life and marks time for all.

Here choosing a husband is a privilege reserved for very few women, almost none. All these factors, especially poverty, keep alive a phenomenon that is as widespread as it is worrying: child brides.

They are girls of 14,13,12 years of age, and in more extreme cases as young as 8.

Girls that are forced to marry adult men some even 40 - 50 years old.

Many simply accept a life of deprivation and abuse, but some, in desperation take their own lives. Very few manage to rebel against their fate, to escape from their villages or in the more fortunate circumstances, to obtain a divorce.

Sadaa and Jamila's family lives in a suburb of the capital Sana'a. They were both forced to marry at a very young age, and both managed to escape the husbands to whom they were sold.

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It started with my father

borrowing 20 thousand rials (100 dollars )

from a man with whom he ended up having problems with. Another man by the name of Ibrahim

offered to resolve the problem

and payed off the debt as a marriage settlement.

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The father doesn't even seem to question whether giving in marriage his 12 year old girl Jamila is right or wrong.

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It's destiny, destiny.

People marry young girls like them all the time.

Nobody complains

and they live happy lives.

The man would beat me, he'd abuse me

and threaten me with a knife.

I ran away to our neighbour's house.

I'm against these marriages.

The girls should be older, at least 20

before getting married.

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Her sister Sadaa was 14 when she was married against her will.

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I didn't know anything.

I was still very young.

This man came to my family..

..he bought with him a marriage contract

and after we were married

he started to beat me and abuse me.

He forced me to beg on the streets.

I didn't want to marry that man.

He would beat me

abuse me.

He didn't take care of the children.

He wouldn't give them food or drink.

He married a slave.

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V.O

Aisha was also forced to marry at a very young age. Her story is even sadder. She was sold twice to repay debts. Her life is now confined to a single room provided by the Yemeni Women's Union. The NGO seeks to provide legal assistance and shelter for child brides who run away to change their lives.

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When I was 10 years old

a person came to our home and offered my brothers..

700 thousand rials for me.

They accepted the offer.

They made me marry him.

I was still in primary school.

Like other girls I wanted to one day have a family.

But I didn't understand what marriage was.

I didn't want to marry that man.

Also because he was much, much older than me.

I was 10 years old, he was 40.

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V.O

Nobody in Yemen has ever made a decision on when someone is or is no longer a child.

Hooria Mashhour is the Yemeni Minister for Human Rights, for years he has been trying to have a law approved in parliament to fix the minimum age for marriage.

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We have suggested to fix the minimum age for marriage at 18 years 

but they discussed that and they lower it to 17. 

No problem, I say,

If they wanted they can even lower it to 16. No problem.

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A view that runs counter to the beliefs of a slice of the population led by the Imam's who preach a strict version of Islam. Such as Abdelmalik al-Taji, professor of Islamic Law at the University of Al-Eman in Sana'a.

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It's not a question of compassion by the Ngo's

who wish to impose their own opinion on the matter.

It's not even a matter of protection for the girls.

It's a political issue.

Proof being that it has been proposed by the United Nations

who wish to impose their laws on the whole world.

It's the UN who tells muslims when to marry

how many children to have

and when to consider themselves adults.

But we wish to live by our own rules.

One musn't listen to the minister for human rights

because she has adopted some resolutions

from the Yemeni Women's Union

that in turn have adopted the west's agenda

which is in stark contrast with our doctrines

our religion and our cultural traditions.

We are not representing the western agenda. 

We are representing the human rights. 

We want to preserve human rights for everybody. 

And especially for women and children.

If a young girl has 11,10 or 12 years of age

and her body has reached maturity and is ready for marriage

then al Sharia has nothing against it.

We want to fix it. 

Anyway it was wonderful that they fixed it at 17,

but few extremists withdrew it.  

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V.O

There are numerous reasons for why child bride weddings are so widespread. Ahmed al-Qurashi, the director of Seyaj, the most important local NGO for the protection of childhood, knows this very well. He is one of Yemen's foremost experts on the topic.

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We have a problem.

Poverty and unemployment push some guardians and parents to give away their daughters to get rid of a mouth to feed.

Then there are other reasons..

..such as popular culture, songs, music and poems

are full of words that describe the physical beauty of young girls.

We also have a growing marriage tourism.

With people from the gulf and in particular from Saudi Arabia which have exponentially increased  the problem.

The majority are older men but there are also some that are young.

They all come here looking for young girls.

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V.O

But can this phenomenon be explained simply in this way? Religion, culture, absence of adeguate laws, can this mix be enough to justify these child bride weddings? In fact as the minister for human rights Mashour explains, the economic factor plays an extremely important role.

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From our studies the main cause it was the poverty. 

That is one of the main reasons of child marriages. 

In the rural areas when a family have more than 8 children

and half of them girls, 

and they have to feed all this children, 

when somebody asks for the hand of their daughter,

they sacrifice the daughter. 

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 V.O

As well as guaranteeing shelter, the NGO headed by Jamala, president of the Yemeni Women's Union, tries to re-introduce the child brides back into society, but it is an extremely difficult operation.

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In the last 3 or 4 years

they have started to report the deaths.

This year there have been 5 cases of deaths.

The number of early weddings is much higher than the estimated 20%.

The percentage of child bride weddings

could reach 30 or even 40% of all weddings in Yemen.

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Child brides are unwitting victims. They are not psychologically prepared for such a difficult experience, even less so their young bodies, savaged by a sexual intercourse that often causes irreparable damage and in some cases even death.

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My wedding night was the biggest shock of my entire life.

He was unspeakably violent with me.

A few hours later they rushed me to the hospital.

At the hospital the doctors understood what was happening.

They warned my brothers

who made a commitment to not take me back to him.

But then they did anyway.

So I went to a shop and asked the owner to sell me the strongest poison.

I told him it was because I wanted to get rid of insects from the house.

And I drank it.

I wanted to free myself from it all,

because I didn't understand what I had done wrong...

(In the hospital the doctor's, ed.) raised their voices

they argued (with my relatives, ed.) they threatened to call the police.

But ( my brothers, ed.) said I had been consenting.

They claimed I was in love with that man

and that I had gone back willingly.

And they (the doctors, ed.) believed them.

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V.O

Stories such as this are often hidden and are very difficult to investigate. Even in the hospitals of the capital there are frequent cases of girls admitted for problems associated with child bride weddings. At the al Sabeen hospital in Sanaa, doctor Salwa Al-Ghomairi has dealt with many such complicated cases.

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For example we had one girl..

she was around 14 years old and she was brought to the hospital 

after her first night after marriage. 

After having sex, she developed a very bad injure (tear), in her vaginal wall

and she developed a very severe bleeding. 

Actually she was brought to our hospital

she was in very bad conditions, she was shocked 

..and she died. 

There is early sex if she agrees, early sex if she knows,

early sex if there is love. 

Early sex if she prepares herself.

It is something different than the rape. 

The rape which happens in weddings in Yemen it is something else.

It's not called early sex, it's called a rape. 

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V.O

The child bride phenomenon is not a clear cut division between men and women in Yemen. There is a part of the female population that is against fixing a legal age limit, and when it was discussed in parliament in 2009, hundreds of women clad in their black halabiyye, went onto the streets to protest.

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extremists try to interpret that based on Islam, which is not true. 

Because we have many preachers, many religious man   

that are in favour of fixing a minimum age for weddings 

because they know that it's against the interests of human beings,

against the interest of the girls.

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The minister is referring to men such as Shawki al-Khadi, an Imam and parliamentarian for Islah, a party associated with the muslim brotherhood. Al-Khadi is a champion for the fight against child bride weddings. He has even written a book on the argument: "The safe age for marriage."

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In this book we have tried to deal with this issue, beginning with Sharia, or rather the Coran,

from traditions and the interpretations of jurors who are the real experts on Sharia law

and who are in favour of the divulgation of a law that prohibits child marriages.

We handed this book to people that were against the law

and when we asked them to argue the contents of the book and the scientific facts it contained

they weren't able to, and they lost credibility.

That is why I uphold a law which considers

weddings before 16 years of age a punishable offence.

I'm even in favour of marriage between 16 and 18 but on two conditions

that there is the consensus of the mother and the judge.

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It's a difficult and drawn out battle. The Arab Spring that erupted in February 2011 brought down the regime which had lasted over 20 years, but also brought chaos and ungovernability. In the last few months the guerrilla warfare between the Houti Sciites in the north of the country and the Sunni government armed forces has become extremely violent, with kamikaze attacks by al-Qaeda against government institutions. Al-Qaeda has elected Yemen as its last stronghold, thanks also to the support of tribes who help to finance them with dozens of kidnappings every year. The few foreigners who live in Sana'a live segregated lives.

In an effort to counter the terrorist offensive the government has strengthened its army. Men but also women are fighting against al-Qaeda, and in a country where the woman is often domestically confined, the special female anti-terrorist units are not seen benevolently by the conservatives.

But a growing awareness is making inroads amongst the population. Child brides have found the courage to speak out. Some parents do not wish to repeat the same mistakes, such as this father from the village of Mawhit. A teacher in the local primary school, father of 7 children, Abdel Aziz Hassan wants most of all that his daughters finish their schooling.

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When we got married I was 15 years old, my wife was 12.

We got married when we were still children.

We knew nothing of marriage as we know it today.

They made us marry without really knowing what we were doing.

Whoever marries when very young

doesn't feel the happiness of marriage, nor it's meaning.

It would be better marrying at the right age.

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A sign of hope for the future, that stories such as those of  Jamila, Saada and Aisha may become increasingly rarer. Their trauma has been so strong that the three ex-brides refuse even just the thought that they could one day meet a man that could make them happy.

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I want to become a doctor..

..a teacher or do some other job.

I don't ever want to get married again

as long as I live.

I prefer to study.

Studying is much better than marriage.

Marriage is just humiliation

beatings, children and tiredness.

I don't think there is such a thing

as a good man on this earth.

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According to a recent European Commission kap

survey in Yemen poorest regions, more than  40%

of weddings are celebrated with girls under 15 years.

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In the last years there have been several cases

of deaths related to child weddings.

In many cases the cause was internal bleeding

or fatal consequences after delivery.

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Most of these deceases related to child

weddings are kept hidden.