The New York Times has a story today on child brides in Afghanistan. Though it is illegal in that country for girls younger than 16 to marry, the practice persists of trading off younger daughters to pay off family debts.
Responding to a case of two young girls escaping, being returned to their village by the local police, and then getting flogged in public, Fawzia Kofi, a female member of country’s Parliament, said:
I’m sure there are worse cases we don’t even know about. Early marriage and forced marriage are the two most common forms of violent behavior against women and girls.
For more information, go to Women for Afghan Women.
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Related story in the newspaper (RGJ but I’m sure AP Wire) today – Afghanis are sending their daughters to school in greater numbers than before. The girls say that attacks on the school won’t stop them.
My heart goes out to them. Bless ‘em.