Fatima comes from Aleppo.Her profile picture shows her wearing an hijab. Her husband is dead and now she ’s looking for a new one, no matter the country or the part of the world he comes from. He must be “good in Islam” and act as “an Imam, to guide her”.
Yasime’s profile is similar. She lost her husband and now she wants a good muslim and a loving partner to share the rest of her life. Their descriptions and ads appear on a match making website for muslims. It wouldn’t be worth mentioning if those girls didn’t come from a country in rubbles.
There also other sites, like singlemuslim.com, that seem to give a better and safer environment for women who are looking for their soulmates online. It can boost a Syrian brides section. “We provide a secure and cost effective service, a safe and economical choice for your search for an ideal partner”. No mention to the conflict or the harsh condition these women come from. Scrolling the profiles, we can notice that all the people there come from areas controlled by the regime, where they can have an pretty easy access to internet. This is often unlikely to happen in a overcrowded refugee camps in bordering countries.
The Facebook page “Syrian refugees for marriage” offered a vast choice among desperate women looking for hope outside war and violence. The vast majority were displaced in Lebanon, Jordan or Turkey, where they struggled to survive. Their only chance was finding a man who could provide for them, no matter where they came from.
The page was live on Facebook only for five days, showing women’s pictures and descriptions. Women’s rights Ngo KAFA encouraged its followers to report it and make the page shut down. The Ngo accused the page of exploration of those girls.This happened in 2014 , but the situation hasn’t improved that much.
Syrian civil war has created a generation of displaced people and deteriorated the condition of women, who are turning more and more to ultimate solutions to make a living or even to stay alive. They have renounced to education and better opportunities because of the war and they now recur to matchmaking sites or worse, like under age marriages.
Syrian girls in Tripoli or in other areas of Lebanon can easily incur into women traffickers, who can sell them off, no matter if they’re minor or adult. In an article published on NOW., Ana Maria Luca describes the market of Syrian girls in Lebanon. This lucrative business has reached a crescendo thanks to the these people desperation and the high demand. Taxi drivers are the link between the buyers and the girls. On average, the child bride’s price is around 2500$, but it can reach a peak of 10,000$. Deals are made on the streets of Tripoli and the other Lebanese cities. Mostly, the traffickers’ clients are wealthy men coming from Gulf states. Apparently, some NGOs are involved in this abhorrent traffic, thanks to their presence in the camps. Very often these girls are underage and it’s complicated to stamp it out because Lebanese law allows marriages for underage girls. And all of the many religious sects in Lebanon permit marriage before the age of 18, while some Muslim communities allow for girls to marry as young as 9 years old with parental permission.
In this difficult times, early marriages have become one of the few ways to escape from abject poverty. This trend existed in pre-war Syria too, but with the raging of the conflict, its role has become more and more preponderant.
Before the conflict, 13% of Syrian women aged 20 to 25 were married before their 18th birthday. In the first four months of 2014, 32% of marriages regarded a girl under 18. To preserve the honor of unmarried girls and share the burden of economic difficulties, Syrian families are more receptive to give their young girls to older men.
According to Save the Children, some girls are also married off to facilitate the entry of Syrian men into Jordan. And girls who marry Jordanian husbands may have the opportunity to secure sponsorship allowing them and the girls’ family to relocate out of the camp.
These young brides not only face abuses from their husbands, but also complications during pregnancy that represents the second highest cause of death globally for girls ages 15 to 19.
In a report conducted by the international NGo about Syrian child brides in Jordan, we have the story of Maha, 13. She got married with a man, who’s ten years older. “I didn’t want to get married. I wanted to finish my studies and become a doctor. But my parents forced me to marry. My father was worried about sexual harassment here. I’m pregnant now. [The foetus] is very weak because I’m so young and my body isn’t ready.”
Once married,these women renounce once for all to education. With more than 90% of men and women attending schools and universities, the Syrians rates used to be among the highest in the Middle East. Now, the young brides must to stay at home to look after her husband and the children, unable to follow lessons. Another reason why child wives are prevented from re-enrolment in school is the unwillingness of some school administrations and parents to mix married girls with unmarried ones. This determined education levels to have dropped dramatically, making these girls outlooks far bleaker.
@matteo_lat
Fatima comes from Aleppo.Her profile picture shows her wearing an hijab. Her husband is dead and now she ’s looking for a new one, no matter the country or the part of the world he comes from. He must be “good in Islam” and act as “an Imam, to guide her”.
Yasime’s profile is similar. She lost her husband and now she wants a good muslim and a loving partner to share the rest of her life. Their descriptions and ads appear on a match making website for muslims. It wouldn’t be worth mentioning if those girls didn’t come from a country in rubbles.
