FORCED MARRIAGE
ARTICLES/INFORMATION/RESEARCH
11 Years Old, a Mom, and Pushed to Marry Her Rapist in Florida
""It was forced on me," she recalls. She had become pregnant, she says, and child welfare authorities were investigating — so her family and church officials decided the simplest way to avoid a messy criminal case was to organize a wedding."
https://www.nytimes.com, MAY 26, 2017
Two missing girls found safe miles from alleged kidnapper's polygamist cult compound in Utah
" Two missing girls who may have been betrothed to a cult leader were found safe Monday evening after they were allegedly kidnapped by their "doomsday prepper" father three months ago.
An Amber Alert was cancelled Monday evening after Dinah Coltharp, 8, and Hattie Coltharp, 4, were found safe outside Lund, Utah, about 175 miles away from their home in Spring City.
Their two brothers, ages 6 and 7, were found hours earlier when police raided a compound used by the polygamist cult Knights of the Crystal Blade, which their father John Coltharp created with the self-styled prophet Samuel Warren Shaffer, the Salt Lake Tribune reported."
NY Daily News, December 5, 2017
Brides for sale: Vietnamese women trafficked to China
"Lao Cai (Vietnam) (AFP)—Vulnerable women in countries close to China — not only Vietnam but also North Korea, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar — are being forced into marriages in the land of the one-child policy, experts say.
China suffers from one of the worst gender imbalances in the world as families prefer male children."
AFP, June 24, 2014.
Nepalese boys pay high price for marrying in childhood
"Nepalese law prohibits marriage before age 18 but the practice of marrying boys as early as 7 remains common in the poor, predominantly Hindu communities along the border with India. Aid workers are starting to document the physical and psychological strain on these boys' lives."
http://www.seattletimes.com, February 7, 2015.
Dad arranged marriage for daughter, 12, with older man to stop her from premarital sex: reports
" Fearing his daughter would soon become sexually active, he arranged a marriage with a then-26-year-old man, who had sex with his daughter four times at a hotel and the father's home, according to Sky News.
He believed his daughter was old enough to make decisions about marriage.
"It was stopping a sin," the father, who is not identified because his underaged daughter is the victim of a sexual assault, told investigators. "It was something I had to do.""
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, April 1, 2015.
UN report: 2014 marked by extremists' use of rape, sexual slavery and forced marriage
" UNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said 2014 was marked by harrowing accounts of rape, sexual slavery and forced marriage being used by extremists including the Islamic State group and Boko Haram.
In a report released Monday, the U.N. chief expressed "grave concern" over sexual violence perpetrated by armed groups, including those promoting extremist ideologies in Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Nigeria, Mali, Libya and Yemen.
"The confluence of crises wrought by violent extremism has revealed a shocking trend of sexual violence employed as a tactic of terror by radical groups," Ban said."
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, April 14, 2015.
Unchained at Last founded by ex-Orthodox Jewish bride aids women and girls escape forced marriages
"Reiss remembers cowering in the corner of their Brooklyn apartment during her ex-husband's rampage, fearing that the marriage her ultra-Orthodox Jewish family had arranged for her would turn into a death sentence."
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, October 16, 2016.
America's child marriage crisis: Virginia law tackles continuing issue
"Until this month, there was no minimum age requirement to get married in Virginia — if you could meet certain criteria.
Girls as young as 13 years old, and pregnant, were wed with a judge's approval in recent years, according to records from the Virginia department of health. Almost 4,500 minors were married between 2004 and 2013. About 90% of those minors were girls who married adult men."
www.theguardian.com, July 8, 2016.
Forced marriage outlawed as ministers step up efforts to curb practice
"Forced marriage is "a tragedy for each and every victim", home secretary Theresa May said as a new law outlawing the practice came into effect.
From Monday forcing someone into marriage in England and Wales will carry a maximum seven-year jail sentence under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014."
www.theguardian.com, June 15, 2014.
