When will Muslims protest this????
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| Mon, 09-14-2009 - 2:06pm |
((Yemeni girl, 12, dies in painful childbirth
AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- A 12-year-old Yemeni girl, who was forced into marriage, died during a painful childbirth that also killed her baby, a children's rights group said Monday.
Fawziya Ammodi struggled for three days in labor, before dying of severe bleeding at a hospital on Friday, said the Seyaj Organization for the Protection of Children.
"Although the cause of her death was lack of medical care, the real case was the lack of education in Yemen and the fact that child marriages keep happening," said Seyaj President Ahmed al-Qureshi.
Born into an impoverished family in Hodeidah, Fawziya was forced to drop out of school and married off to a 24-year-old man last year, al-Qureshi said.
Child brides are commonplace in Yemen, especially in the Red Sea Coast where tribal customs hold sway. Hodeidah is the fourth largest city in Yemen and an important port.
More than half of all young Yemeni girls are married off before the age of 18 -- many times to older men, some with more than one wife, a study by Sanaa University found.
While it was not immediately known why Fawziya's parents married her off, the reasons vary. Sometimes, financially-strapped parents offer up their daughters for hefty dowries.
Marriage means the girls are no longer a financial or moral burden to their parents. And often, parents will extract a promise from the husband to wait until the girl is older to consummate the marriage.
The issue of Yemeni child brides came to the forefront in 2008 with 10-year-old Nujood Ali.
She was pulled out of school and married to a man who beat and raped her within weeks of the ceremony.
To escape, Nujood hailed a taxi -- the first time in her life -- to get across town to the central courthouse where she sat on a bench and demanded to see a judge.
After a well-publicized trial, she was granted a divorce.
The Yemeni parliament tried in February to pass a law, setting the minimum marriage age at 17. But the measure has not reached the president because many parliamentarians argued it violates sharia, or Islamic law, which does not stipulate a minimum age))
Muslims around the world will gather to protest a stupid Danish cartoon, but will do nothing to stop atrocities like this. Why do Muslims around the world allow these gross violations of human rights? Why does America and other civilized countries allow this to continue?

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When will they protest it?
I think many have protested this custom, but I think real change has to come from within. They need to address this problem within their own culture, and evidently, they choose not to. They need to bear the responsibility for their actions. I don't believe it is the "fault" of other countries.
***They need to address this problem within their own culture, and evidently, they choose not to. They need to bear the responsibility for their actions. I don't believe it is the "fault" of other countries.****
Kind of like the opposite extremme we have in our culture of over sexualizing young girls and calling it "liberation." Which has essentially lead to STD rates as high as 50% in certain age groups. Our "solution" as a culture is to vaccinate girls starting as early as 9 years old as a preventative. Either way young girls end up dying because of "cultural norms."
What's that saying about cleaning up you're own back yard before sticking you're nose in other people's business. We have plenty of young girls right here that are giving birth at age 12-13-14 years old. While we don't condone young children marrying, we have young people getting married here.
Good point. I guess that's what happens with the fall of "family values". It's really disgusting what is considered socially acceptable in some of our own cultures.
I guess we have two choices, teach these kids that having sex is not okay when you are not married, or keep passing out condoms. Neither one seems to be working very well.
This is NOT a Muslim custom, this is a Yemeni tribal culture.
We had a thread a few months ago about an 8 yr. old girl, from Liberia, that was raped, by other
((This is NOT a Muslim custom, this is a Yemeni tribal culture. Their religion happens to be Muslim, but that doesn't mean all Muslims marry off their 12 year old daughters.))
I never said it was. However, this region is ruled by Islamic Law. Therefore, I am wondering why the Muslims of the world don't "protest" that this is wrong and shouldn't be done. This type of thing happens in many countries that are ruled by Islamic Law. Just because Muslims in these regions have been doing this since the 6th century doesn't mean that it is okay to continue.
I am curious why Muslims around the world will protest a stupid Danish cartoon and unite in anger over it, but remain silent about the atrocities that occur within those regions to make their religion look anything but peaceful and tolerant.
Women are treated worse than dogs. It is a gross violation of human rights and the world remains silent. Why? Why does the world allow this to continue. Why does the world allow them to practice their 6th century "customs" and continue to turn a blind eye? Are we afraid to offend somebody?
Is it that nobody can say anything bad about Islam, but can bash Christianity all they want?
I agree that the treatment of women in many countries, not just Islamic ones, is atrocious. I'd like to see Hilary Clinton continue the work she has done in the past to bring equality to women around the world, especially now that she has more clout. While I agree that we can't force other countries to follow our rules/customs, we can/do try to get them to change, by other means, just as we've tried say to bring more human rights to China. They've found that when they help women in countries develop financial clout and hence receive power, the country does better overall. Maybe that would be a way to get through to them. Hopefully, as a new generation grow up outside that regime where women are treated with more respect, they'll start appreciating how horrible it is.
"Is it that nobody can say anything bad about Islam, but can bash Christianity all they want?"
As a Christian majority country, it would be a good thing for us to look at ourselves for improvement, though I don't consider that bashing. There are aspects of all religions that others can bash if they want. People often bash Islam but not Christianity, also. It goes both ways. And, I haven't heard anyone on this board say it's okay to bash Christians all they want either.
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