Young Girls Forced Into Living Nightmares

Young women in the free world, know they have the absolute right to choose their own partner, the only danger being that the marriage could end up in divorce. Yet for millions of women who live in Asia, Africa, or the Middle East, the right to choose their own partner is not only a highly dangerous alternative, but it could threaten their lives. For these women the word ‘No’ is not an option. There are also instances where men are coerced into a forced marriage. This global horror of forced marriages, imposed by families, for the most part is grossly unreported.

A survey recently reported that 3000 women fall victims to forced marriages in Britain, with little or no rights once married.

Pakistan
Umrani tribesmen forced three girls to a desert and buried them alive. This was a sign of determent for attempting to arrange a marriage of their own choice.

The girls were grabbed at gun point, in the remote village of Bab Kot, by six men. They were then forced into a Land Cruiser jeep, that had the number plate of the Balochistan government. Taken to a field, they were beaten, shot and flung into a ditch. When the mother and aunty of the girls objected and tried to call a halt to the treatment, the two older women were also thrown into the ditch. Badly injured, the five women were buried alive and covered with mud and rocks, in what the relatives claimed to be ‘honor killings’.

The burial place of the victims have not been located and very few of the perpetrators of these murders are apprehended or convicted.

In some other places in Pakistan, it is believed male relatives kill hundreds of women every year for endeavouring to choose their own destiny. It is reported that 174 women were victims in 2005, 270 in 2006 and 280 in 2007. The figure in the first five months alone of 2008 was 107.

Bangladesh Doctor Held Captive
A British trained doctor, Humayra Abedin, aged 32, who has been a resident in Britain for the past six years, was held captive by her family, in an effort to force her to go through with a marriage to a complete stranger. Humaya returned to Bangladesh when her family told her her mother was gravely ill. Manhandled on her arrival and her travel documents and credit cards taken from her, Humayra was locked in a room and constantly looked over by four or five guards. Injected with what she believed were mood stabilizers and anti-psychotic drugs, Humayra was forced against her will, to go through the procedure of a marriage ceremony.

Being a resident of Britain, Humayra came under the jurisdiction of the recently passed Forced Marriage Act. A Bangladesh court sympathetically ruled that Humayra was held against her will and should be permitted to go free. Humayra returned to England, four months after being captured by her family.

The British High Commission in Dhaka said it had been able to assist 56 forced marriage cases between April 2007 and March 2008.

Saudi Arabia:
A Saudi Arabian girl, aged eight years, was married off by her father, to a 58 year-old man. The young girl could not apply to divorce her husband until she reached puberty, a judge ruled. The girl still resides with her mother and the estranged father set a verbal condition that the marriage would not be consummated until the child reached 18 years of age. However, there is absolutely no guarantee this will be honored.

There are no figures available of how many pre-adolescent children have been forced into arranged marriages, but the number is believed to be very high.

Turkey:
In Turkey a 23 year old woman succeed in divorcing the man her parents forced her into marrying, only to be shot in the head three times by her brother.

India:
Girls as young as eight years of age are married off by their family, in India.

Education has only had limited success in cutting across these customs and traditions, as the victims are usually emotionally, socially and economically dependent on the family. Sadly, most countries do not have a ruling on forced marriages.