After the story spread of the death of an 8-year-old Yemeni girl from internal injuries following her wedding night, Hooria Mashhour, Yemen’s Human Rights Minister called for the end of child marriage. "Many child marriages take place every year in Yemen. It's time to end this practice," Mashhour said.
In Yemen, where child marriage is still legal, more than half of all young girls are married before they turn 18 and about 14% before they are 15. In 2009 Yemen’s parliament passed legislation to set the legal age for marriage at 17, but conservative parliamentarians and religious leaders opposed the bill.
Recently activists issued a statement prompting Yemen to "protect its girls from the devastating effects of early marriage by setting 18 as the minimum age for marriage by law."