Unemployed and indebted, Fazal, a brick kiln worker in Afghanistan, said the country’s collapsing economy had left him with a difficult choice – to marry his young daughters or let his family starve to death. .
Last month, he took $ 3,000 to hand over his daughters, ages 13 and 15, to men twice their age. If the money runs out, he may have to do the same with his 7-year-old daughter, he said.
“I had no other way to feed my family and pay my debt. “What else could I do?” He told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from the Afghan capital, Kabul. “I really hope I don’t have to marry my youngest daughter.”
Child marriages have risen in poverty since the Taliban seized power 100 days ago on August 15, with reports of impoverished parents promising even babies for future marriages in exchange for money, as women’s rights activists say. They predicted that the percentage of child marriages – which was common even before the return of the Taliban – could double in the coming months.
“My heart freezes to hear such stories είναι It is not marriage. “It’s a child rape,” said Wazma Frog, a well-known women’s rights activist in Afghanistan.
She said she hears such cases every day – often involving girls under the age of 10, although it is unclear whether young girls will be forced to have sex before puberty.
According to UNICEF, there are credible testimonies of families offering their daughters, up to 20 days old, for a future marriage in exchange for money.
Afghanistan, which is on its knees due to drought and economic collapse, will be one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, according to the United Nations.
As winter sets in, UN agencies say millions of people are on the brink of starvation and 97% of households could fall below the poverty line by mid-2022.
The sudden return of the hardline Islamist organization to power has resulted in billions of dollars of Afghan assets being ‘frozen’ abroad and the cessation of most international aid. Food prices have skyrocketed and millions of people are unemployed or unpaid.
Frog said families marry their daughters to reduce the amount of food they need to feed and to get money, usually from $ 500 to $ 2,000, with younger girls receiving higher amounts.
Parents also hand over their daughters to settle their debts. Frog reported a case where a homeowner took his tenant’s nine-year-old daughter when he could no longer pay the rent.
In northwestern Afghanistan, Frog said another man left his five children in a mosque because he could not feed them. The three girls, estimated to be all under 13, got married on the same day.
“The number of cases has increased so much because of starvation. “People have nothing and can not feed their children,” said Frog, founder of the Women & Peace Studies Organization. “It is completely illegal and not allowed by religion,” she added.
UNICEF has announced that it has launched a financial assistance program to help reduce the risk of starvation and child marriage, and is in contact with religious leaders to end child-centered ceremonies.
Before the Taliban came to power, the legal minimum age for marriage was 16 for girls – below the internationally recognized age of 18.
The Taliban say they only recognize Sharia law, which does not provide for a minimum age, leaving the issue open for interpretation.
INCREASING DEBT
Worker Fazal said his problems began when the financial crisis froze construction papers. Like the other workers, he was paid $ 1,000 in advance for a six-month job.
With the demand for bricks decreasing, his boss told him to return the deposit, but Fazal had already spent most of the money on medical care for his ailing wife.
Residents of the area say many other kiln workers were forced to marry their young girls to repay the advances they had received.
According to the latest national figures, 28% of girls in Afghanistan marry before the age of 18 and 4% before the age of 15.
However, Frog and activist Jamila Afghani predicted that up to half of the girls could be forced into marriage before they turn 18 if the crisis continues.
Girls who marry at a young age are at greater risk of marital rape, domestic violence, exploitation and dangerous pregnancy complications.
“It’s ruining their lives – their psychological, emotional, physical and sexual health,” said Afghani, who chairs the International Women’s League for Peace and Freedom in Afghanistan. “These girls are often treated as maids, as slaves.”
Afghani said activists recently intervened to stop a 9-year-old girl from marrying a 30-year-old man in exchange for 50,000 afghanis ($ 538) in Ghazni province.
CLOSED SCHOOLS
Rights experts say the Taliban’s exclusion of girls from secondary education is also forcing parents to marry their daughters.
“The two most important risk factors for child marriage are poverty and lack of access to education,” said Heather Barr of Human Rights Watch, which has worked with women in Afghanistan for more than six years.
The Taliban, which barred girls from accessing schools when they last came to power in 1996-2001, have said they will eventually be able to return to school but have not said under what circumstances.
Donors want to use aid as a lever to ensure that the Taliban respect the rights of girls and women.
However, Barr said immediate rescue was needed, adding that the delays would lead even more families into poverty and put more girls at risk of marriage.
“You do not help women’s rights if they die of starvation,” she said.
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