Forced Wedlock in Houthi-run Territories Raises Humanitarian Concerns

Arab World

June 6th, 8:08am

Sanaa – Asharq Al-Awsat

A Yemeni girl awaits humanitarian aid supplies given by the Russian humanitarian relief mission in a camp on the outskirts of the capital Sanaa on March 16, 2017. (AFP)

Houthi coup militias in Yemen are forcing civilian families to hand over their children in compulsory marriages involving its commanders, activists told Asharq Al-Awsat, confirming that around 105 cases of forcible wedlock were documented over the last two years. Yemeni girls living in insurgency-held areas in governorates of Ibb, Hajjah, Dhmar, Al Mahwit, Raymah, Hodeidah, and the capital, Sanaa, are pressured into marrying Houthi officers under the threat of losing their relatives. Hundreds of families have been affected by the brutish Houthi wedlock policy, especially in Ibb and Hajjah, women rights activists reported. Speaking under the conditions of anonymity for safety reasons, activists documented 31 accounts of forced marriages in Ibb, 26 in Hajjah, 14 in Raymah governorate, 12 in Hodeidah, 9 in Dhamar, 5 in Al Mahwit, and 3 in Sanaa’s countryside. Objectors also alleged that hundreds of other cases have gone undocumented as parents were threatened at gunpoint to keep quiet against the inhumane practice. Reported cases were based on testimonies collected from territories under the Iran-backed guerrillas’ grip. “Since it waged a nationwide coup and captured Sanaa and other cities, the Houthi insurgency failed in imposing alien rituals, customs and traditions and beliefs on Yemenis,” human rights activist S.B. told Asharq Al-Awsat. This failure, according to S.B., compelled Houthis to regress to other methods to please its officers, like offering them Yemeni girls through “forced marriages.” “There are stories in general that tell the extent of the suffering endured by the fathers of many girls who were forced to marry Houthi supervisors,” they said, revealing that the ages of the girls wedded by force varied between 13 and 22 years old. In mid-2016, Houthis kidnapped a girl in the Radmah district, nestled east of Ibb, and forced another girl to marry a prominent Houthi leader in the southern governorate.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3012116/forced-wedlock-houthi-run-territories-raises-humanitarian-concerns