Monday, September 14, 2009

12-year-old bride dies in labour

12-year-old bride dies in labour
A 12-year-old bride has died in Yemen after severe blood loss while giving birth.

A 12-year-old Yemeni child-bride died after struggling for three days in labour to give birth, a local human rights organisation said.
Fawziya Abdullah Youssef died of severe bleeding on Friday while giving birth to a stillborn in the al-Zahra district hospital of Hodeida province, 140 miles west of the capital San'a.
Child marriages are widespread in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, where tribal customs dominate society. More than a quarter of the country's females marry before age 15, according to a recent report by the Social Affairs Ministry.
Youssef was only 11 when her father married her to a 24-year-old man who works as a farmer in Saudi Arabia, Ahmed al-Quraishi, chairman of Siyaj human rights organisation, said.
Mr al-Quraishi, whose group promotes child rights in Yemen, said that he stumbled upon Youssef in the hospital while investigating cases of children who had fled from the fighting in the north.
"This is one of many cases that exist in Yemen," said Mr al-Quraishi. "The reason behind it is the lack of education and awareness, forcing many girls into marriage in this very early age."
Impoverished parents in Yemen sometimes give away their young daughters in return for hefty dowries. There is also a long-standing tribal custom in which infant daughters and sons are promised to cousins in hopes it will protect them from illicit relationships, he said.

5 comments:

  1. forcing many girls into marriage at an early age i believe is a global issue which needs to be addressed with strict laws. Our governments need to do something about this harmful tradition practice "

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  2. shocking... we have to stop it by any means..
    Islam protects girl as pearl ,, but what is going in Yemen?
    its really against Islam.
    they have to think about the system ..
    dowry is sin for Muslim...
    all Muslims have to b take care of this issue..
    Yemen should implement strict against child marriage and fix the marriage customs in limit.

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  3. i agree with you yaar,..this is not only an issue in Yemen but a global issue which is widespread in Africa especially in my community. we really need to do something about this.

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  4. This is very unfair, we shouldn't cease to protect human rights.
    what was the concerned ministry's action on this?. this is a reference to your project.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Ruth from Uganda.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is very unfair, we shouldn't cease to protect human rights.
    what was the concerned ministry's action on this?. this is a reference to your project.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Ruth from Uganda.

    ReplyDelete

Violence against women is a worldwide yet still hidden problem. Freedom from the threat of harassment, battering, and sexual assault is a concept that most of us have a hard time imagining because violence is such a deep part of our cultures and lives.