CAIRO - With an estimated 40 per cent of Egypt's 80 million population living below poverty line, some poor families agree to marry off their young daughters, who are far below the official age for marriage, to men the age of their fathers or even grandfathers, all for a few pounds. These marriages, as well as resulting in heartbroken young women and fatherless children, have many other appalling consequences. The Egyptian Mail delves deep into this disturbing and sensitive issue.
Raped by the highest bidder Nadia was just 14 years old when her family in the poor Giza village of el-Hawamdiya forced her into marrying a Gulf man three times her age four years ago, in return for money, a study has shown. Now back home with her parents after her divorce, a shy Nadia fidgets nervously and fights back the tears as she describes her one-month ordeal, being raped every day by her 42-year-old Gulf husband. Nadia says that her family abandoned her in the home of her new ‘husband', from a Gulf country, in an illegal kind of marriage commonly practised by poor families in el-Hawamdiya poor families, desperate for money. Nadia's case mirrors that of thousands of other poor girls in impoverished rural Egypt, where nearly 40 per cent of the population live below the poverty line, according to Azza el-Gazaar, who works for the Cairo-based Oyun (Eyes) Centre for Human Rights, Development and Democracy. In el-Hawamdiya, old Arab men pay for a brief summer marriage to a young girl with the approval of her parents, Azza writes in her recent study of the problem. The town's gripping poverty plays a role in hindering efforts to stamp out the practice, as poor families find themselves unable to say no to tempting dollar bride prices for their daughters, she explains. "In the past, the victim was normally an adult, but now men as old as 60 are buying pubescent girls and forcing them into these brief marriages," Azza writes, adding that she lived in the village for six months doing the research for her study, which should outrage Minister of Family and Population Mushira Khattab and the authorities concerned. "It all happened too fast," says Nadia, who is now the mother of a child. "One day I was a normal girl attending school, the next day I was living with a stranger who forced me to have sex with him every day for a month," she recalls, adding that her parents soon spent the whole dowry. Now 18, she escaped her tormented married life after being divorced with a little child. She says that her marriage was like a pre-arranged abduction with the consent of her parents and brothers. Her father, a seasonal worker, sees nothing wrong with this strange situation. Another 17-year-old victim of summer marriage is quoted by Azza in the study as saying that she was forced out of school and into bed with a rich old men, four years ago, when she was just 13. "He raped me on our first night together. Every day he forced himself on me, overpowering me every time after a struggle," says the woman, who now has a two-year-old boy by the man. "I love my child and I am going to raise him to be a good man." When girls are married off at a young age and deprived of education and enjoying their childhood, this should compel Minister Khattab to launch a rescue campaign in the poor villages around Giza, where such marriages have become very common. Azza encountered many girls who were sold to old men, making them vulnerable to VD and other diseases, not to mention the psychological problems. The study should also force the security authorities to arrest these ‘Arab husbands' before fleeing the country at the end of every summer, as well as the parents and middlemen, who are responsible for such marriages. In most cases, the paedophiliac husbands, who should be charged with raping a minor, usually divorce their victims and leave the country.
Underage marriages continue As a humble day worker struggling to feed his eight children, he was easily convinced when a wealthy Arab man asked to marry his 14-year-old daughter. Although the law is clear about the legal age of marriage (it was 16 before being recently raised to 18), there are many ways to get around it. Marriage brokers usually play a major role in facilitating such violations, while the maazoun (marriage registrar) is either bribed or the family of the would-be bride are talked into accepting an orfi (unregistered) marriage. The humble day worker easily gave in when a broker promised him that the 50-year-old Yemeni suitor would be his saviour. He dreamt of moving out of the shabby room where he, his wife and their eight children have been crammed for years. Blinded by the mirage of a better life for the entire family, the father did not even ask about the suitor's occupation. He gave his daughter away for a dowry of LE100 (that was 20 years ago) and a bag full of new clothes. Later on, when the couple settled in Yemen, the truth came out. For 15 years now, the wife has not been able to buy a ticket to return home. Surprisingly, this scenario is not uncommon. There are villages known by name to elderly Arabs seeking rural, underage girls. Sociologists and human rights activists are well aware that Al-Hawamdiya in 6th October Governorate has gained a reputation as a generous supplier of young girls that are not yet ready to become wives and mothers. According to field studies, poverty is the catalyst for bitter stories, where humiliation and torture seem to be common factors. The integrity of these young girls is the least thing taken into consideration when it comes to money. A study conducted by Azza el-Gazaar, Director of the Oyun Centre for Human Rights, Development and Democracy, concludes that unemployment, low pay and ignorance of the social, health, legal and psychological impact of premature marriages to wealthy, elderly, unsuitable Arabs are to blame for the problem. Professor el-Gazaar told Al-Masry Al-Youm Arabic-language daily that well-organised awareness campaigns on ground and satellite TV, warning of the risks, are urgently required. However, she regretted that the law is incomplete, in that it does not provide protection for witnesses and informants in such cases of illegal marriage. The relatives of the victims and eyewitnesses say that the brokers who mediate between the two sides are making a lot of money out of this unethical business. As el-Gazaar explained, these matchmakers have financial problems of their own, or else they would get involved in such a despicable business. These brokers, who know each and every family in their neighbourhood, keep a beady eye on their pretty young daughters. They bring tempting financial offers to the homes of struggling breadwinners or unemployed fathers of large families. A 48-year-old civil servant who works in the Supply Department in the village of Manawat, referred to only as FM, told the Arabic-language Sabah el-Kheir magazine that one such unscrupulous broker had organised one girl after another for an elderly Saudi man who owns a lot of land in the village. The Saudi man spends a few months with each wife, then divorces her and leaves her to deal with the fallout, as he moves on to his next short-lived marriage. Social studies have revealed that some brokers use the Internet to invite visiting Arabs to take young Egyptian wives for a limited period for a fixed price. Poverty and only poverty is the reason that prompts parents to ‘sell' their daughters, Professor Magda Adly, Director of the Nadim Centre, told the same publication. She holds the Government responsible for the spread of ‘seasonal marriages' that lack the basic components of real matrimony.
