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DW Andrzej Dickans (ARD)
Edited by: Giannis Papadimitriou
Hafsa married when he was 13 years old. Her father gave her to the much older boyfriend in question, who paid the equivalent of 100 euros to “acquire” her. For two full years, Hafsa went through a lot, she was raped and beaten. Finally she managed to persuade, along with her mother, the groom to annul the marriage and set her free.
All of this is common in Somalia, where one in three girls marries before the age of 18, often at the age of 12 or 13. Until now, there was no legal framework for marriages with underage girls. Now the country’s Parliament is discussing a draft law that, with parental consent, essentially legalizes these marriages, and in fact from the … nine years.
Abdirahman Hassan Omar, a lawyer in the capital Mogadishu, is in favor of the new law because, as he himself puts it, “when a girl is so young, she secretes more and more hormones and can have sex. Our religion allows us to get married in early adolescence. ” .
The highest mission is motherhood.
A similar discussion takes place in other Muslim countries about whether a minor can marry and at what age. For Abdirahman Hassan Omar, the main mission of a woman is to have many children, starting from a young age. Beyond that, says the Somali lawyer, “in some Muslim countries you are considered an adult at 15, in European countries at 18, in some Eastern countries at 21. There is no fixed age for this, each country You must decide based on your culture. and their religion … “
Women’s rights organizations express their outrage at the bill. They recently submitted their own counterproposal to the Somali Parliament, prohibiting abuse and rape, as well as child marriage. The deputies did not even agree to discuss all this. “They ignored our proposal, they threw it in the garbage,” said Duniyo Muhammad Ali, a Somali women’s rights activist. “Here we are talking about rapes, child marriages. There should be harsh punishments for the perpetrators …”
The good and the interests of the deputies
The United Nations has backed proposals by women’s rights groups, but even that has not been enough to convince Somali lawmakers. Duniyo Muhammad Ali says he knows the real reason for the rejection: “We know MPs who also want to marry underage girls. I can name many of you who have already done so.
“Somalia is considered one of the ten poorest countries in the world. For thirty years it has been torn apart by a relentless civil war. A large part of the population fights every day for” For women and underage girls, the situation it is even more inhumane. “In refugee camps, girls are at risk,” Duniyo Muhammad Ali said. “Some are forced to surrender to escape poverty.”
Santia Ali Haji is only 13 years old. She goes to school in Mogadishu and dreams of getting involved in politics. She says she wants to finish school, earn a living first, and then get married. But she fears that her parents will start looking for an older boyfriend from now on. “You have to obey your parents,” says little Santia. “My parents will definitely be happy for the money they will get, if they marry me. And the man will think that, after having paid, he can do whatever he wants …”
