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Violation of human rights

Jul 12,2017 - Last updated at Jul 12,2017

A study by the Higher Population Council on child marriage in Jordan shows that the Kingdom has a long way to go in terms of curbing this practice.

Child marriage among Jordanians constituted 13.4 per cent of all marriages in the Kingdom in 2015, meaning that girls under the age of 18 had been married. 

As for Syrian refugee girls, the rate is even higher, having reached nearly a third of all marriages.

The reasons and explanations for this grave violation of human rights are always the same: poverty, lack of adequate housing, and an exaggerated or misplaced fear of sexual exploitation.

The study said child marriage has been on the rise in the period 2010-2015.

Jordan has legislation against child marriage, but its seems that the existing loophole in the relevant law allowing child marriage with the consent of the father of the child has led to it relatively wide practice.

International human rights treaties signed and ratified by Jordan, notably the Convention on the Rights of the Child, prohibit child marriage under all circumstances.

Yet, our authorities appear too complacent about international norms against child marriage and are lax in preventing these cases.

No matter what the excuses or explanations being offered to justify this high rate of child marriage are, at the end of the day, thousands and thousands of girls lured or pressured into marriage before they finish school end up leading a life void of real happiness and self-fulfilment.

This alarming situation also means that many girls married at a very young age are suffering silently for not having finished their education or matured enough to make the proper choice when it comes to their spouses.

This is to say nothing of how difficult it would be for a girl under 18 to raise children or deal with the ramifications of divorce.

 

Parents and Sharia judges who allow this kind of marriage or facilitate it must be held accountable for destroying the lives of so many human beings and depriving them of their right to happiness.

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