Yemeni father burns his daughter, 15, to death for keeping in touch with her fiance
- A 35-year-old man has been arrested in a remote village in Taiz province
- Believed the father caught the girl chatting on the phone to her fiance
- Parts of Yemen prohibit contact between men and women before marriage
By TARA BRADY
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A woman walks past a building in Yemen where a father burnt his 15-year-old daughter to death
A father has burned his 15-year-old daughter to death for keeping in touch with her fiance.
Police said a 35-year-old man had been arrested after the teenager's death in a remote village in the central Taiz province, in Yemen.
The police website read last night: 'The father committed this heinous crime on the pretext that
his daughter had been keeping contacts with her fiance.'
his daughter had been keeping contacts with her fiance.'
Local news websites have reported that the father had caught the girl chatting by telephone with her fiance.
Traditional tribal customs in parts of Yemen prohibit contact between men and women before
marriage.
marriage.
Poverty and concern about 'family honour' prompts many Yemenis to marry off their daughters young, often below the age of 18 - a practice criticised by international rights groups.
Yemeni authorities said last month they were investigating the death of the eight-year-old girl in northern Yemen.
It was believed the child died from internal bleeding on her wedding night after being forced to marry a man five times her age.
The girl, identified only as Rawan, died in the tribal area of Hardh in northwestern Yemen, which borders Saudi Arabia.
Activists are now calling for the groom, who is believed to be around 40 years old, and her family to be arrested so they can face justice in the courts.
Child bride: The practice of marrying young girls is widespread in Yemen and has attracted the attention of international rights groups seeking to pressure the government to outlaw child marriages
They say arrests would help put a stop to the practice of marrying very young girls to older men in the impoverished region.
However, days later authorities presented a girl to reporters they said was Rawan alongside a man claiming to be her father.
On camera he insisted angrily that only one of his six daughters is married, and it is not Rawan.
'They are all in good health and not suffering from anything and I deny this news.'
Alive?: Yemeni 'child bride' said to have died on her wedding night has appeared in a video, it is claimed
ACTIVISTS FEAR THERE COULD BE 140MILLION BY 2020
There are currently 57.5 million child brides across the world, 40 per cent of which married in India.
At this rate, the figure is expected to rise to 140 million by 2020.
It is a common custom among poorer families who rely on their daughter to help herself and the rest of the family to build their income.
In Yemen, more than a quarter of females marry before age 15, according to a report in 2010 by the Social Affairs Ministry.
In Africa, 42 per cent; Latin America and the Caribbean, 29 per cent.
In India, almost half the population (46 per cent) of girls are married by the time they reach 18, according to the National Family Health Survey.
The practice of marrying young girls is widespread in Yemen and has attracted the attention of international rights groups seeking to pressure the government to outlaw child marriages.
Yemen's gripping poverty plays a role in hindering efforts to stamp out the practice, as poor families find themselves unable to say no to 'bride-prices' that can be hundreds of dollars fortheir daughters.
More than a quarter of Yemen's females marry before age 15, according to a report in 2010 by the Social Affairs Ministry.
Tribal custom also plays a role, including the belief that a young bride can be shaped into anobedient wife, bear more children and be kept away from temptation.
In September 2010, a 12-year-old Yemeni child-bride died after struggling for three days in labour to give birth, a local human rights organisation said.
Yemen once set 15 as the minimum age for marriage, but parliament annulled that law in the 1990s, saying parents should decide when a daughter marries.
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