Child marriage in Yemen continues to this day despite the fact that Yemen ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, which defines child marriage as a marriage in which one or both parties are under the age of 18. The Yemeni government caused a setback on the issue when the parliament in 1999 abolished the legal minimum age for marriage for girls and boys, which was then 15. The government at the time argued that having a legal age for marriage stood in conflict with religion.
In 2009, a parliamentary majority voted to set the age of 17 as the legal minimum age for marriage. However, a conservative group of lawmakers resisted, arguing that the proposed legislation went against Islamic Sharia law. By using parliamentary procedures to continuously stall the law, this group of lawmakers came out victorious and no legal minimum age for marriage ended up being introduced. Tragically, Yemen lost an opportunity to spare many children from the horrors and tragedies of child marriage that continue to this day.
Today, many children in Yemen are forced to marry, some of whom are only eight years old at the time of marriage. Child marriage constitutes a serious threat to the future of girls in my country. Forcing young girls to marry will have huge negative impacts on their lives both psychologically and physically.
The families who force their young children to marry bear a large responsibility themselves that they for various reasons are not able to grasp or understand. Girls and boys should run around and play with their friends and attend school. Period.
Considering that Yemen is in the midst of an armed conflict, the phenomenon of child marriage has become a particular cause for concern. Young girls are especially vulnerable amid the widespread insecurity and mass displacement of people Yemen is witnessing. According to a UN report which has studied the impact of the Yemeni conflict on the marriage of minors, one out of five displaced girls are married off. The worsening economic situation in Yemen has also contributed to an increase in child marriages as families use dowry to survive financially.
Depriving young girls in Yemen of their right to education and limiting their chances in life by forcing them to marry young will have life-long effects and likely also affect the children of the child wives.
It should be noted that there have been persistent and continuous attempts by international human rights organizations to raise awareness of the dangers of child marriage and its disatrous and harmful consequences. These types of campaigns have taken place in several rural communities in Yemen and were initiated after policy makers failed to agree on legislation that would set a minimum age for marriage and punish violators of it.
On a final note, we look forward to seeing the judicial authorities in Yemen cooperating with international human rights organizations and imposing severe penalties on those grown-ups who “marry” children. They are but mere violators of children´s rights. We hope that children´s rights activists and influencers will continue their work and awareness campaigns in a bid to put an end to child marriage. Awareness programs should be run in rural areas in cooperation with schools, local civil society organizations, health institutions and religious associations. They are the best channels to target as they have a broad reach and hence can inform the public about the disastrous consequences of child marriage.
