Abyan Governorate (southern Yemen) consists of 11 districts, occupying an important area of Yemeni land estimated at more than eight thousand square miles. Where customs and traditions differ between rural and urban areas. However, there are many commonalities between them, both positive and negative, including the marriage of minors.
In this governorate, girls are married between the ages of 11 and 12. This custom continues to this day, until it has become a normal ritual that is practiced without any objection, especially in the areas of Yafea, Rasad, Sarrar, and Sabah, and some central areas such as the countryside of Lawdar, Al-Wadea’, Mudiyah, and Al-Mahfad.
Therefore, with the difficult economic conditions imposed by the war, the phenomenon has expanded to include the countryside, the city, and all the districts of the governorate. This entails damage that parents may not realize until they get involved in this phenomenon.
On the other hand, many people attribute the phenomenon of early marriage to deteriorating conditions, the inability of parents to buy basic necessities, including clothes and school supplies, and the cost of transportation to schools, which led to girls dropping out of education. In addition to preferring teaching males over females. Recently, the marriage of child girls to old men—decades older than them—has become widespread in the displaced camps, including in Al-Wadi camp in the Khanfar district.
However, there are also cases of the deaths of girls who got married early as a result of pregnancy and then a difficult childbirth, in addition to the deterioration of the physical and psychological health of minors. All of this is accompanied by a complete absence of government programs or means of educating parents about the dangers of this form of marriage.
In this regard, a mother, whose name is referred to here as S.H.K., and who married off three of her young daughters when they were 12 years old, says: "Their father is the one who married them off at this age, while I was not satisfied with this marriage, but the circumstances forced him to marry them off. They are currently married and have children. Likewise, many people marry off their daughters as a result of economic conditions and widespread poverty.
(Published in Collaboration with Mwatana)
