11-year old Jemeniti girl Nada Al-Ahdal would rather die than get forced to marry

I don't know if this video is authentic, but it highlights a very real problem in the Muslim/Arab world, especially in Jemen. It's a barbaric culture this poor child was born into.

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http://mashable.com/2013/07/22/yemeni-girl-marriage-youtube/

Nada al-Ahdal is an 11-year-old girl from Yemen, but instead of just playing with her friends after school or focusing on homework like other girls her age might, she says she had no other choice but to run away from home — in order to escape being married to a much older man. Her account and her powerful appeal against child marriage has now been posted on YouTube.

She eloquently explains that she would be "better off dead" than married at 11 and condemned to forgo her childhood, her education, and her dreams for the future. Her appeal currently has close to three million views on YouTube.

The video has made the rounds on Reddit, where it was submitted yesterday, and has been rapidly picked up by MSN, Huffington Post. According to NOW News, Nada currently lives with her uncle, to whom she fled when her parents tried to force her into marriage.

Nada's imploring speech about her terror at being married off and the injustice of depriving her of an education and the innocence of childhood is compelling and elegantly delivered. Her eyes are fixated at the lens, and her speech is hurried, but clear.

"I would have no life, no education. Don't they have any compassion?" she asks.

The barrage of statistics we encounter on a daily basis can be desensitizing, but when a little girl looks determinedly into the camera and clearly states: "I'd rather die," the impact is undeniable. The video is thus becoming an effective vehicle for explaining the horrors of underage forced marriage from an uncomfortably personal perspective.

Nonetheless, some statistics can help put her story in context: According to the United Nations, one out of nine girls in developing countries will be married by age 15, and an estimated 14.2 million girls a year will probably become child brides in the next decade.

In Yemen, about half of all women are married as children, Human Rights Watch reports. Furthermore, there is no legal minimum age for marriage in Yemen, which leaves many girls, such as Nada, vulnerable to marital rape, abuse, poverty, and myriad health issues.

In an interview with National Geographic, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Stephanie Sinclair explains that child marriage "isn't just harmful to the girls involved. It's at the root of so many other societal ills: poverty, disease, maternal mortality, infant mortality, violence against women."

The Internet has helped give this girl a voice that is now being heard all around the globe. But it is important to remember that there are many other children just like her who cannot escape their fate, and whose faces do not appear in videos, and whose names we'll never know.

 

Your "shrug" attitude.
The statistical correlation between the predominant religion in countries and such practices (and practices such as marrying relatives).
The historical practice of the founder of said religion used as justification for such practices.
The angry reaction of some members of said religion when the correlation is pointed out.

 

You have already proven yourself to be one of the dumbest posters on this forum, many times over, be it in the GARM or the other sub-forums. Really no point in talking to you.

 

I am not angry. I am just stating what most people here know. You are a r****d.

 

As if further proof was needed that you are r****ded - here it is.

The usual reactions:

- "Shrug - what is there to debate?" = first attempt to try and sweep embarrassing events under the rug
- Attacking the thread starter = second attempt to try and derail discussion from the subject at hand

It's a fact that these things happen and it is a fact that there is a statistical correlation between the predominant religion in the regions where it happens and the number of cases. And the correlation is not only statistical: The "founder" of the religion had done it himself. I don't care about judging that founder, but what matters is that some followers of that religion in these regions justify their actions by pointing to the founder.

The next derail is also predictable:

- "It has nothing to do with religion. It is cultural. And there are socio-economic reasons".

I call BS.

 

The plight of girls like this needs to be publicized, which is what I am doing.

The seemingly naive question "what is there to debate" is often used by those who would rather suppress these things being publicized, so they can continue.

The first step is to get attention to the matter.

International pressure should be exerted on the governments of these medieval countries to work on preventing forced child marriages.

Without international condemnation of such practices, nothing will ever change there. For that to happen, these things need to spread.

The video of this girl has already gone viral. It has been viewed over 6 million times on Youtube.

And if, due to my thread, it is viewed 10 further times, the thread has already served its purpose.

 

(Wait for it...)

 

So are you saying that this is caused by religion?

"BEAT LA" seems to disagree.

There, we have a debate between two people who said there is nothing to debate.

 

Relevant in this context (and not surprising, looking at the reaction of BEAT LA and that of those who will undoubtedly show up once they are awake...):

http://thenigeriatoday.net/child-ma...o-tells-critics-says-it-is-not-your-business/

CHILD MARRIAGE OUR RIGHT AS MUSLIMS, Dokubo tells critics, says “It is not your business”

Asari Dokubo Defends Under-aged Marriage Law In Nigeria… “We Muslims Can Marry Girls Of Any Age”. A prominent Niger Delta Muslim, Alhaji Mujahid Abubakar Dokubo-Asari, has lashed out at critics of the moves by Nigeria’s Senate to approve under-age marriage.
Expressing his opinion on the issue this morning, Dokubo, who converted to Islam as an adult, insisted that it is the right of Muslims to marry or give out their daughters at any age they wish, adding that this is not the business of non-Muslims.

Said the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF) leader through Facebook:

“People should learn to respect other people’s sensibilities…We Muslims have the right to marry when we want or give out our daughters at any age we want. It is not your business and the law must respect our right to do so. Anything short of that is an infringement on our rights. We did not ask you to marry ladies of that age or give your daughters out in marriage at that age. Plzzzzzzzz respect our sensibilities.”

The Nigerian Senate has come under fire from outraged Nigerians and the international community after being convinced by Senator Ahmad Yarima to drop a constitutional amendment outlawing marriage to girls under 18. The former Zamfara State governor who once came under fire for marrying a girl believed to be aged 13 had argued that Islam recognises under-age marriage.