13 year old Yemeni girl dies of genital bleeding 4 days after arranged marriage

[Liberal_in_LA]

:puke: :mad: Global action for children - donate here: http://www.globalactionforchildren.org/news/top_yemen_clerics_fight_child_marriage_ban

13-year-old Yemeni bride dies of bleeding
By AHMED AL-HAJ, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, April 8, 2010
(04-08) 10:06 PDT SAN'A, Yemen (AP) --

A 13-year-old Yemeni girl has died of injuries to her genitals four days after a family-arranged marriage, a human rights group said.

The practice of marrying young girls is widespread in Yemen and has drawn the attention of international rights groups seeking to pressure the government to outlaw child marriages. Legislation that would make it illegal for those under the age of 17 to marry is in serious peril after strong opposition from some of Yemen's most influential Islamic leaders.

The 13-year-old girl from Hajja province, northwest of the capital, died on April 2, four days after her marriage to a 23-year-old man, said Majed al-Madhaji, a spokesman for the Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights. A medical report from al-Thawra hospital said she suffered a tear to her genitals and severe bleeding.

Authorities detained the husband.

-------------

Yemen's gripping poverty plays a role in hindering efforts to stamp out the practice, as poor families find themselves unable to say no to bride-prices in the hundreds of dollars for their daughters.

More than a quarter of Yemen's females marry before age 15, according to a report last year by the Social Affairs Ministry. Tribal custom also plays a role, including the belief that a young bride can be shaped into an obedient wife, bear more children and be kept away from temptation.

Last month, a group of the country's highest Islamic authorities declared those supporting a ban on child marriages to be apostates.

A February 2009 law set the minimum age for marriage at 17, but it was repealed and sent back to parliament's constitutional committee for review after some lawmakers called it un-Islamic. The committee is expected to make a final decision on the legislation this month.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/04/08/international/i070538D05.DTL#ixzz0kYuzlDX6

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[MattBaggins]

2. What kind of a barbarian wants to have sex with a 13 year old?

Just like the kooks in the FDL they justify it with so called words from an invisible sky fairy.

[704wipes]

19. apparently a number of catholic clergy do...

nt

[Nite Owl]

3. It's not culture it's

child molestation.

[paulsby]

9. was loretta lynn's husband a child molester?

she married him at age 13 and they were together for 50 yrs

[leftofcool]

11. He was also an abusive asshole

[paulsby]

12. but was he a child molester

if marrying a 13 yr old makes one a child molester, than that poster would have to say yes

loretta would disagree

also, fwiw, lynn said in her autobiography: he never hit me one time that I didn’t hit him back twice

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

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[paulsby]

26. i'm not any kind

i didn't state any position.

i simply asked a question

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

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[Maru Kitteh]

22. YES.

Tell Chris Hansen hello for us when you run into him.

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

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[Cleita]

23. It seems from her autobio that she wanted to marry him and

her family couldn't stop her because it was legal. I remember when I was in the eighth grade in 1953, there was a girl in our class of thirteen-year-olds who bragged about her fiance when we used to sit around the picnic tables eating our lunch. She seemed to be more mature than the rest of us flat-chested ones and that summer she married him. Apparently it was legal with parental consent. I never heard from her again but then another friend of mine a year later, that I had known from grade school but didn't go to school with at that time, invited me to her wedding. We were both fourteen. My mother didn't want to let me go but finally relented and helped me buy a present and agreed to go with me. The wedding was in a church and she wore the traditional white gown. There was a reception after with cake and all just like the grownups. She seemed happy and was marrying this guy who seemed ten years older than her willingly. Again, it was legal with parental consent and this was in California. So I don't think other cultures have a corner on child marriages.

[cap]

33. you are contradicting your statement

"her family couldn't stop her because it was legal" .... apparently "it was legal with parental consent"...

So did her parents have to give consent? If they did, they could have said no.

[Cleita]

38. I don't believe Loretta's parents had to give consent in the state she lived.

In California the parents of my friend had to give consent, which they did. Where's the contradiction? Did you read my whole post?

:shrug:

[cap]

39. In California, your friend's parents should never have given consent.

They are the parents. They could have said no.

[Cleita]

40. Could've, shoud've but didn't? What can I say. I was a kid myself.

I report. You decide.

[cap]

41. Neither me or my parents would have permitted it

That's my decision. I have no idea why the parents did not prohibit such an irresponsible action, even if the girl was pregnant. It's just plain wrong and parents need to stick to their guns.

Hope the parents are enjoying their role as day care providers for their grandson.

[leftynyc]

35. Yes - he was

Now how about the topic on hand.

[Roon]

4. I think i am going to be sick

[applegrove]

5. Poor little girl. Hopefully such a horrible turn of events will educate others.

[Tansy_Gold]

6. Yeah, right.

This is, unfortunately, not a rare occurrence. This time it just happened to get a little publicity.


Tansy Gold

[applegrove]

7. Oh I know. I don't have much hope that things will

change in the middle east. Especially concerning women.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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[demosincebirth]

13. Don't mess with islam, here...

[riderinthestorm]

14. Yup, even if the OP explicitly outlines the problem... nt

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

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[riderinthestorm]

16. I know, right? nt

[QC]

17. Yes, Islam is the one topic that must never, ever be criticized here.

Weird, isn't it?

[Chulanowa]

18. Not really, it's the mode of criticism.

This practice isn't especially common in Islam. Just like raping little boys isn't especially common in Christianity.

of course, the huge difference is... Most posters here are either Christians themselves or from a christian background, so it's not okay to blame evangelical and Catholic pedophilia, child rape, torture, abuse, and mutilation on Christianity as a whole, but it is okay to do so about Islam.

Which is, I suspect, why we see so many deleted posts here, because some particularly dim people can't quite grasp that blaming over a billion people for this ain't quite right.

[REP]

28. That's not what post #2 was about

I should know; I wrote it. It wasn't about Islam but about respected cultural practices vs human rights abuses.

[patrice]

29. Thank you.

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

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[Hawkeye-X]

10. Seriously. Fuck. Yemen.

I bet that's exactly why the dude that Obama wants assassinated who's hiding out there is taking full advantage of it.

I will exercise my right to support Obama on this decision.

I'd encourage Rush to move there, but he's not into little girls.

Hawkeye-X

[aquart]

30. No. Authorizing the murder of an American you don't like

authorizes the murder of Americans you do like. Don't go down this road.

[Eg-ptiangirl]

24. Disgusting

I don't know what may happen if I hated those extremities more.

[Quantess]

31. A horrible way to die, but also a horrible way to live.

[gleaner]

32. This is an atrocious practice, but it is not limited ...

to Yemen or other Islamic countries. There is a religious sect in the Pacific Northwest which migrated here for religious freedom. I will not name them, but they believe that life should be lived more traditionally than it is being lived today. I am definitely not speaking of the Amish or the Mennonites who let their children choose whether or not they want to live the faith and who and when they want to marry. They also educate their children.

This sect does not believe in educating their children. They pull them out of school and marry them off at 14 or 15 years old. Boys and girls both, although some of the girls probably marry older men. My b'in law who is a teacher there found it to be the source of one of his greatest frustrations and pains as a teacher. To find a child with a bright mind only to be told the child was leaving school to marry and have children at a very tender age as was their interpretation of what they called "God's law." And there they are. Married, having one child after another and with no salable skills except farming and no hope of higher education. You can't blame only one religion when many have and traditionally still do believe in child marriages with consummation.

It is time to look to the individuals involved. Lots of older men lust after younger girls and boys. They are called pedophiles here. It is a predilection that is both unnatural and abhorrent. It should stop in Yemen; it should stop here. Now how do we go about it? First time you tried to pass a law against this religious sect they would scream "religious freedom," and that would be that. So what do we do about it here. The authorities in the area are aware of it, the despise it but they are powerless to stop it.

Also upstream someone mentioned Loretta Lynn and her husband. Don't forget Jerry Lee Lewis and his marriage to a 13 year old girl who I think was his cousin. It nearly ended his career, but not quite. Apparently people wanted the music more than they cared about the child's welfare. He was never arrested, never prosecuted and the marriage was abusive. It ended when she got older and couldn't take anymore. Whenever you want to cast all the blame for something unthinkable across the world, take a look around here first. You will find plenty.

And just in case there are any lingering doubts. I cannot stomach abuse of children and this girl was a child. How many of you knew what you wanted for your whole life when you were 13? The deck was stacked against her and that is something we should mourn instead of simply casting hatred and hoping it sticks in another place.

[lonestarnot]

36. Digusting child abuse.

[lonestarnot]

37. Digusting child abuse.