Arranged marriage of minors “has always existed in Afghanistan”
The arranged marriage of minors is a reality which is not new in Afghanistan. Firouzeh Nahavandi, sociologist and professor emeritus at the Free University of Brussels, recalls that “Even in periods of modernization, marriage of adults with minors has always existed.”. According to her, this situation is linked to multiple factors. “On the one hand, there are traditional reasons linked to tribal customs, especially of the Pashtuns. On the other hand, there are questions of poverty. When families cannot feed their children, they “sell” their daughters to get rid of a mouth to feed. They “sell” to pay off the debts they have contracted. “
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Finally, questions of religion also come into play. Firouzeh Nahavandi summarizes: “These are reasons that are linked to money, poverty and customs that are legalized by an interpretation of religion. We must avoid links between religion and what is currently happening in Afghanistan. There is a part of religious interpretation by obscurantists who are the Talibanbut there is also patriarchy, poverty, customs… It’s really multifactorial. The Taliban, since their arrival in 2021, have further tightened the laws and are in the process of legalizing the forced marriage of girls. This is not a current invention of the Taliban except that they are in the process of codifying it. They also codify the divorce of children at puberty. “
“Of legal pedophilia”
Young girls are therefore married at a very young age to men who are often much older than them. The founder of the Center for the Study of International Cooperation and Development describes this as “legal pedophilia”: “When you have a 10-year-old daughter who is married to an old man of 50, 60, 70 years old, it’s something unimaginable, it’s legal pedophilia”.
If in reality arranged marriages of minors have existed for a very long time in Afghanistan, divorce is now codified. To summarize, from now on, the silence of the child who has reached puberty is equivalent to his consent. However, the child’s silence is almost inevitable since he often finds himself under the influence of his parents or his family in general. “I find it very difficult to see how a child who is under the influence of her father can oppose or rebel,” notes Firouzeh Nahavandi. If she wants to divorce, the girl will have to give certain reasons and a judge will decide whether this is possible or not. Thus, among the reasons we find questions of estrangement or deception of the husband, but also of apostasy. Elements which are very often complicated for the young girl to prove and which the husband may object to. Firouzeh Nahavandi believes that‘” we have never seen this in any country. This is truly the situation, I think, the worst we have known in history. “
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Accès à l’éducation en Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, girls are banned from education, so they are in a particularly vulnerable situation vis-à-vis their husbands. “They have fewer and fewer arguments to be able to fight and therefore be able to defend themselves. They have access to primary school but can no longer continue their studies, this is an additional reason to marry them early. explains Firouzeh Nahavandi.
In a country like Afghanistan it is quite difficult for the people to rise up. There were still reactions from women’s rights defense committees. “Women protested but unfortunately it didn’t lead to much. Even if the NGOs, even if at the UN level, there have been reactions, today, nothing seems to really be able to stop the Taliban.” adds the sociologist. Finally, she believes that the country “no one is interested anymore.” “We’re talking about it today, we’re going to talk about it for a few days and then it will be over”, late Firouzeh Nahavandi.
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