Protesting in the name of women’s rights, hundreds of Yemeni women gathered in Sana’a, Yemen’s capital city, to persuade the government to pass a new bill that would ban marriage to a child under 17 years old. As approximately half of Yemeni girls are married by the age of 18, and some as early as nine, the child marriage bill has sparked an intense debate among the bill’s supporters, the government, and the religious opposition, who claim the bill violates the laws of Islam.

The government’s dominant party, the General People’s Congress (GPC), has garnered substantial support for a ban on child marriage; however, the bill’s passing has faced numerous delays due to fervent criticism from the religious and conservative Islah party, whose leaders govern the majority of Yemen’s rural communities. President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the GPC members are hesitant to risk losing the support of the Islah party should they decide to pass the bill through parliament. There is concern that without the endorsement of the religious and conservative tribal leaders, the government could lose control over the country’s rural communities, or risk accusations of passing a bill that is anti-Islam.

In an effort to gain support for the bill, parliament members, such as Sameer Radha, have taken actions to educate conservative religious leaders about the severe health risks that can occur as a result of childbirth at a young age.  Radha also challenged the “anti-Islam” accusations by asserting, “ ‘Sharia law doesn’t specify the age and leaves it open for health specialists to decide the appropriate age for marriage’”.

Despite the ongoing dispute, women in Yemen continue to fight for the ban on child marriage. Within the past two years, the increased media coverage surrounding child marriage has prompted more women to speak out against it. During the recent protest, one Yemeni teen proclaimed, “‘It is a crime against human rights when a child gets married…There is a lack of education among parents on what they are doing to their children when they marry them off. The girls drop out of school and then have no opportunities; they’re stuck’”.  In order to address the issue of parental responsibility, the proposed bill includes a law that will impose a fine or a one-year jail sentence on parents who attempt to marry off their daughter before the age of seventeen .

WCI supports the women protesting as well as the members of parliament who are working to ban child marriage and who are dedicated to teaching others about issues of women’s health and education.

For more information, please click on the following link:
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/0323/In-Yemen-women-protest-delay-on-child-marriage-ban