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Kabul teens forced into marriage

The practice of forced marriage is still alive and well in Afghanistan and the law seems to side with the family, to which girls sometimes as young as 13, are married into.

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3 min read

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Source: CNN


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Yasemin was sold for a thousand dollars to a 60-year-old man. She was 14-years-old.

"I heard they were haggling over a price for me, like an animal. My mother hugged me and told me to be quiet otherwise my father wound beat me," Yasmin said.

"I threw myself at my father's feet and begged him not to marry me off."

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Yasmin was raped the first night in her new home.

"I could not stop him, he was stronger than me, he raped me. He locked all the doors. I had no chance to escape," she said.

Women's rights activists say traditions that allow women to be traded like commodities are difficult to overcome.

Fear and shame keep most from escaping abuse and speaking out. But after more than a decade, Yasemin did.

"I was afraid that he would rape my daughter," she said.

But when her husband was serving jail for murder she realised it was her only chance.

Yasemin's story of courage and survival is rare. She now supports her three children on her own after taking a typing course.

She recently saw her husband in the streets of Kabul.

He'd been released and she's terrified that he's going to come after her and their three children.

And she won't go to the authorities - for good reason.

Women's Rights Activist Humaira Rasuli said that the law still favours the family a women has been married into.

"Unfortunately, we have several cases that these women while they are escaping from the violent family they are arrested by the police," Mrs Rasuli said.

"Once arrested, women are often accused of adultery or moral crimes -- and can be jailed for years. Some of those who find sanctuary at secret shelters tend to be suicidal," she said.

“Of course they blame themselves for any kind of acts, for any kind of violence. And they were forced to marriage or they were sold to the marriage and now they have to live in a slavery life." Mrs Rasuli said.

Marium was just 13 when she was married off as compensation.

"I was married off to an old man because my brother loved his niece,” Marium said.

“One day my brother ran away with his niece. My family forcibly married me to the old man as compensation," she said.

“My husband's entire family was torturing me and beating me. Especially my old husband. He forced me to beg and when I didn't bring back enough money he would beat me."

Mariam, like a growing number of Afghan women, has escaped such abuse, but must now endure a lifetime in the shadows, never sure if she will be safe tomorrow.


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