Yemen: Activists Urge Ban on Child Marriage
Thursday, October 31, 2013 9:55 AM

Human Rights Watch is calling on the Yemeni government to ban child marriage in its new constitution.  Yemen does not currently have a law setting a minimum age for marriage.  Although there are laws that prohibit a man from having sex with his wife before she has reached puberty, there are no penalties imposed on men who break this law. Additionally, marital rape is not a crime in Yemen.

According to statistics from the United Nations and Yemen’s government from 2006, approximately 14 percent of girls in Yemen are married before the age of 15 and more than 50 percent are married before the age of 18. Forced and child marriages have devastating impacts on its victims, including physical, psychological, financial, and medical consequences. 

Compiled from: Batha, Emma, Yemen must ban child marriage in new constitution – rights group, www.trust.org (Oct. 28, 2013).