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Afghanistan: Widespread child marriage blamed for domestic violence

Oct 20, 2007 12:26 am By Marisol Seibold

Of course, any attempts to do away with the custom of child marriage will encounter resistance based on the example of Muhammad, who married 9-year-old Aisha (Sahih Bukhari 5.58.234). And any attempts to do away with domestic violence will encounter resistance based on the Qur’an’s sanction of wife-beating (4:34).

From the United Nations’ Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN):

KANDAHAR, 16 October 2007 (IRIN) – Fifteen-year-old Razia (not her real name)
has been imprisoned in Kandahar Province, southern Afghanistan, for escaping from her husband’s house and eloping with another man.

She was only 12 when her father married her to an elderly man for a significant dowry payment. “He [her husband] was very brutal and was treating me violently,” Razia said.
“No one was helping me escape my husband’s cruelty,” the distraught teenager said, adding that her only resort was to elope with a young man whom she thought would give her a new life.

Months later Razia registered for divorce from her elderly husband. “As I filed for divorce the police arrested me and put me in prison,” she told IRIN.

Not only is elopement unlawful for a married woman in Afghanistan, it is also taboo.

It is unclear how long Razia will remain in prison. She could be sentenced to death or get 10-15 years. Sexual relations outside marriage are considered a serious offence in Afghan civil law, which is derived from Islamic Sharia law.

Afghanistan recently ended a three-year moratorium on the death penalty.

If sexual relations outside marriage are not proved, she could still face an unspecified sentence for running away from her home with a stranger (`na-muhram”), said Kandahar judge Haji Karim.

[…]

Sidestepping Islamic aspect of the issue:

According to the AIHRC, conservative traditions, widespread illiteracy among parents (up to 70 percent of Afghanistan’s 24.5 million people are reportedly illiterate) and nationwide poverty are some of the factors driving families to wed their underage daughters.

Up to 70 percent of registered cases of violence against women have their origins in early marriages, Hashimi said.

“Young children and teenagers often do not fully realise the complexities of marriage and mostly fail to comply with their wedding vows, and this can lead to both physical and mental violence,” said Fawzia Amini, director of the legal affairs department at Afghanistan’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs.

Then, what about Razia’s much-older husband: Is he immature, failing to “realize the complexities of marriage?” Does Amini believe he ultimately has the right to beat her for alleged disobedience?

Child marriage is also considered to be contributing to the country’s high maternal and child mortality rates, health experts say.

Widespread illiteracy, poverty and conservative traditions are some of the major factors, which contribute to underage marriages in Afghanistan, experts say.

Suraya Subhrang, a women’s rights expert working for the AIHRC, says child marriage is a complex social phenomenon which can only be tackled by the long-term educational, economic and cultural development of the whole Afghan nation.

“We need strong institutions to ensure the rule of law in society and reliable access to justice for all, regardless of gender,” Subhrang told IRIN.

And as long as Sharia is enshrined in the constitution of Afghanistan, that will be incredibly difficult, if not impossible.

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