Child Marriage In Saudi Arabia



Saudi arabia has a serious child marriage problem.

Child marriage in saudi arabia. This was saudi arabia s decision to ban marriages for people under the age of 18. More than 5 000 girls below the age of 14 are married off in saudi arabia according to media reports. In an opinion piece for the guardian ali al ahmed director of the institute for gulf affairs asks why the practice of child marriage in saudi arabia where there is no minimum legal age for marriage is going unchallenged.

On january 9 2019 saudi arabia s shura council an advisory body overwhelmingly passed a proposal setting the minimum age of marriage at 18 but leaving exceptions for girls ages 15 to 18 to. The decision by the ministry of justice was the latest in a string of moves to improve the rights of women in. In 2020 saudi arabia officially banned all marriages under the age of 18.

Three saudi ministries share the blame for allowing and facilitating. The push to ban child marriage was initially opposed by senior clergy who argued that a woman reaches adulthood at puberty. In saudi arabia a private society rooted in a conservative strand of islam that requires adult women to have a male guardian a wife will struggle far more than her husband to end their marriage.

The answer is that saudi arabia has no minimum age for marriage and it is perfectly legal to marry even an hour old child. Saudi arabia is trying to ban child marriage through new regulations but loopholes are leaving young girls in the deeply conservative kingdom unprotected campaigners said on thursday. There have been 5 622 marriages where the bride is under the age of 14 in saudi arabia.

Atgaa will be her husband s fourth wife. It s emblematic of the nation s struggle between modernity and traditional islam. But the lives of thousands of little girls are being destroyed.

Atgaa 10 and her sister reemya 8 are about to be married to men in their 60s. However by 2019 the saudi shura council had outlawed marriages under the age of 15 and required court approval for those under 18.