War and poverty are causing a dramatic increase in the number of girls being forced into marriage with older men in many African and Middle Eastern countries, Britain's children's charity has warned.
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| According to estimates by the non-governmental organization Save the Children, which has a network in more than 120 countries and is headquartered in the UK, in 2017, every day more than 12,000 girls under the age of 15 will become child brides, entering a life of sexual slavery, being beaten, pregnant and dying in childbirth. |
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| Khadra, 16, holds her two-month-old daughter at home in Somalia. According to Save the Children, war and poverty have led to an increase in the number of girls marrying older men because their families cannot protect or feed them. |
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| Pictured is Aisha, who was forced to marry at the age of 13. Beaten by her husband, she fled and returned to live with her family in Somalia, taking her two-year-old daughter Rayan with her. |
![Nhiều bé gái bị các nhóm phiến quân Hồi giáo bắt cóc và ép lấy chồng, sau khi sát hại cả gia đình em. Các nhân viên xã hội người Anh đã làm việc tại nhiều quốc gia như Afghanistan, Nigeria, Yeman, thu thập số liệu về nạn bạo hành gia đình, cưỡng bức và hãm hiếp trẻ gái. Trong đó, một bé gái 6 tuổi đã bị bán làm vợ cho một người đàn ông hơn mình 40 tuổi để đổi lấy một con dê ở Afghanistan, hay một cô dâu nhí 8 tuổi ở Yemen chết vì chảy máu sau trong đêm tân hôn khi bị ông]() Pictured is Sahar, a Syrian. She was just 13 when she was forced to marry a 20-year-old man in Lebanon and have a baby the following year. Sahar says that although she is happy with her husband, the experience has changed her views on marriage, believing that women should wait until they are at least 20 before marrying. " data-reference-id="24436049" src="https://bna.1cdn.vn/2017/01/06/uploaded-dataimages-201701-original-_images1794161_bna_586fa4a23ce2a.jpg"> |
| Many girls are kidnapped by Islamist militants and forced into marriage, after killing their families. British social workers have worked in countries such as Afghanistan, Nigeria and Yemen, collecting data on domestic violence, rape and child sexual abuse. Among them is a 6-year-old girl who was sold into marriage to a man 40 years her senior in exchange for a goat in Afghanistan, and an 8-year-old child bride in Yemen who bled to death on her wedding night after being raped by her 50-year-old "husband". Pictured is Sahar, a Syrian. She was only 13 when she was forced to marry a 20-year-old man in Lebanon and had a baby the following year. Sahar said that although she was happy with her husband, the experience changed her view of marriage, believing that women should wait until they are at least 20 years old to marry. |
![Afrah, mới 16 tuổi khi phải lấy chồng vì gia đình không đủ tiền nuôi em. Sau khi lấy chồng, em thường xuyên bị chồng đánh đập vì nghi ngờ không còn trinh trắng. Hắn còn cho em dùng thuốc phiện và đe dọa nếu dám tiết lộ, bố mẹ Afrah sẽ tự tay giết em.]() "They are discriminated against, physically and mentally abused, and abandoned by their families and communities. When child brides become pregnant, their bodies are not ready for childbirth. Therefore, childbirth is the second leading cause of death for adolescent girls." " data-reference-id="24436050" src="https://bna.1cdn.vn/2017/01/06/uploaded-dataimages-201701-original-_images1794157_bna_586fa4a25a71d.jpg"> |
| Afrah was only 16 when she got married because her family could not afford to support her. After getting married, her husband often beat her because he suspected she was not a virgin. He also gave her opium and threatened that if she dared to reveal anything, Afrah's parents would kill her themselves. "Every 7 seconds in the world, a girl gets married. In the time it takes you to eat a piece of bean sprout, a child, like your daughter, sister, relative or niece, is married. Most of them are married against their will to a stranger who is at least 10 years older," said Kirsty McNeill, the organization's director of child protection programs. "They are discriminated against, physically and mentally abused, and abandoned by their families and communities. Child brides become pregnant, their bodies are not ready for childbirth. Therefore, childbirth is the second leading cause of death for teenage girls." |
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| Tasnim, 16, is from Syria and lives with her husband in Lebanon. Her father arranged her marriage to a fellow Lebanese. Tasnim was taking an exam at school when she had to take a photo to send to her future husband. She then traveled to Lebanon with her parents for their engagement ceremony. She got married late last year. Her parents returned to Syria after their daughter got married. Save the Children ranked 144 countries for the best places to live for children and women based on child marriage, school attendance, pregnancy, maternal mortality and the number of female parliamentarians. The countries at the bottom of the list were Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, Mali and Somalia. The top countries were Sweden, Finland, Norway and Belgium. |
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| Halima, 17, was forced into marriage when she was 15. She fled after being beaten by her husband and dreams of going back to school. The international community has pledged to end child marriage by 2030, but if current trends continue, the number of girls in child marriage will rise from more than 700 million today to around 950 million by 2030 and 1.2 billion by 2050. International agencies acknowledge that a major challenge in ending child marriage is the centuries-old cultural tradition of child marriage in many countries. For example, in Yemen, 25% of girls are traditionally married before the age of 15 because young brides are believed to be docile, obedient wives who will bear more children and avoid early temptation. The government once set a minimum age for marriage at 15, but parliament repealed it in 1990, saying parents had the right to decide where their daughters would marry. McNeill said child marriage was deeply ingrained in society and that to change it, more influence would have to be exerted by communities such as religious leaders and women’s groups. |
According to VNE
