Autor: Dr. M. Terdiman*
Wprowadzenie
Poważnym skutkiem wojny, która szaleje w Syrii od ponad czterech lat, jest wykorzystywanie nieletnich dziewczynek, włącznie z wydawanie ich za mąż przez własne rodziny. Choć takie małżeństwa zdarzały się w Syrii przed wojną – w 2010 r. parlament syryjski zorganizował nawet wraz z ONZ warsztaty o tym problemie [1] – liczba takich wypadków wzrosła znacznie od czasu wybuchu wojny.
Prawo syryjskie ustanawia legalny wiek zawarcia małżeństwa na 18 lat dla chłopców i 17 lat dla dziewcząt. Prawo pozwala jednak na małżeństwo już w wieku 15 lat dla chłopców i 13 dla dziewczynek, ale z pewnymi ograniczeniami, takimi jak – w wypadku dziewczynek – obecność na sali sądowej i pisemna zgoda jej opiekuna prawnego, tj. ojca lub dziadka. W niektórych wypadkach kadi (sędzia muzułmański) może ocenić fizyczną gotowość dziewczynki do małżeństwa i nie pozwolić na nie, jeśli uważa, że nie jest gotowa.
Wraz z wybuchem konfliktu w Syrii ta praktyka, która poprzednio występowała na ogół wśród biednych rodzin, zaczęła szerzyć się w obozach dla uchodźców syryjskich w Jordanii, Turcji i Libanie [2], jak również na terenach kraju opanowanych przez Państwo Islamskie (ISIS). Dzisiaj występuje również na terenach kontrolowanych przez reżim prezydenta syryjskiego Baszara Al-Assada, na obszarach kontrolowanych przez rebeliantów i na obszarach kontrolowanych przez Kurdów; z powodu panującego w Syrii chaosu nie ma jednak dokładnych danych o wymiarach tego problemu.
Syryjski minister sprawiedliwości, Najm Hamad Al-Ahmad, powiedział, że w 2013 r. tylko 10% małżeństw zarejestrowanych w sądach szariatu dotyczyło nieletnich dziewczynek i nazwał ten wzrost „powodem do niepokoju” [3]. Główny kadi Damaszku, Mahmoud Al-Ma’arawi, powiedział, że ponad połowa próśb o udzielenie ślubu dotyczy dziewczynek poniżej 17 roku życia [4]. Ponadto od rozpoczęcia konfliktu, wzrosła także liczna małżeństw urf – to jest małżeństw zawartych zgodnie z obyczajem, które nie są rejestrowane przez władze państwowe i bardzo często dotyczą nieletnich dziewczynek – wzrost ten nastąpił z wielu powodów, między innymi dlatego, że w wielu częściach kraju nie działają sądy, a obywatele często boją się podróżować. Według jednego raportu dziennie w Syrii zawiera się 400 małżeństw urf; szacuje się także, że codziennie w Syrii wychodzi za mąż 200 nieletnich dziewczynek [5].
Ten wzrost praktyki wydawania za mąż nieletnich dziewczynek ma wiele przyczyn: tragiczna sytuacja ekonomiczna w kraju, która zmusza rodziców do wydawania za mąż swoich córek, by oszczędzić na wydatkach na życie; obniżenie się poziomu bezpieczeństwa osobistego, szczególnie dla kobiet, co motywuje rodziców do zapewnienia, że bezpieczeństwa i honoru ich córek pilnuje mąż; oraz wiele ofiar śmiertelnych tej wojny, co wzmacnia pragnienie rodziny, by kontynuować linię rodzinną.
Wiele z tych małżeństw trwa bardzo krótko, kończąc się rozwodem, kiedy okazuje się, że bardzo młodziutkie panny młode są niezdolne do dbania o rodzinę. W wyniku na terenach kontrolowanych przez rebeliantów, przez Kurdów i przez reżim prowadzi się powszechne kampanie informacyjne, by informować społeczność o ryzyku małżeństw nieletnich dziewczynek i pohamować szerzenie się tej praktyki.
Niniejszy raport jest przeglądem niektórych takich kampanii informacyjnych.
{Tekst raportu nie został przetłumaczony na polski}
Campaigns Against Marriage Of Underage Girls In Rebel-Controlled Areas
Most of the activism against the marriage of underage girls is taking place in rebel-controlled areas, apparently due to the greater freedom of action that social activists have there in contrast to the regime-controlled areas. Another possible explanation is that in these regions, more underage girls are being given in marriage to Syrians or to foreigners, especially those who came to fight alongside the rebel forces; however, there is no data on this.
The activism is generally initiated by locals, sometimes in collaboration with international bodies. Activists hold conferences and lectures to raise social awareness about the grave consequences of the practice; thus, in February 2015, the Ma’an cultural center in the Idlib area held lectures for women on the social and psychological harm caused by it. [6]
As part of the activity, two campaigns stand out: „Child Not Wife” and „Our Daughters – Entrusted To Us.”
The 'Child Not Wife’ Campaign
In January 2015, the opposition magazine Sa’ida Suriya („Syrian Woman”) launched the „Child Not Wife” campaign, in collaboration with the Canadian government. Inspired by other campaigns against the marriage of underage girls prevalent in the Arab world, it lasted about a month and included activities in refugee camps inside and outside Syria and in rebel-controlled areas, as well as social media activity. The activists, who sometimes took substantial risks, also collected testimony from Syrian girls whose families had married them off. [7]
The „Child Not Wife” campaign (Facebook.com/childnotwife/timeline?ref=page_internal, February 3, 2015)
One of the leaflets circulated as part of the campaign (see below) stated: „Premature marriage robs a girl of her biological age, denies her the love of her parents and her right to study and play, and exposes her to health and psychological risks. Join us in opposing the marriage of underage Syrian girls, especially to non-Syrians of unknown lineage. Join us in supporting and protecting every girl who has experienced premature marriage. [8]
The campaign sought to raise awareness of the phenomenon in the West as well. One leaflet encouraging people to support the campaign by submitting a photo of themselves holding the campaign logo, posting to the campaign’s webpage, or making a 10-second video with an anti-early marriage message, was translated into English. [9]
Sa’ida Suriya editor Muhammad Malak, who is also one of the campaign’s directors, attributed the increase in the marriage of underage girls in Syria to the influx of foreigners coming to fight alongside the extremist Islamic groups. These foreigners, he said, have infected the locals with the notion that marriage to underage girls is legitimate and permissible according to the Sunna of the Prophet Muhammad. He also mentioned other factors, including poverty, the disintegration of families, and the absence of a family breadwinner. [10]
The „Our Daughters – Entrusted To Us” Campaign
On June 8, 2015, some three months after the „Child Not Wife” campaign ended, the Council of Aleppo Rebels launched a campaign called „Our Daughters – Entrusted To Us” in the rebel-controlled parts of the city. The London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported, in April 2015, on a significant increase in marriages of underage girls in the Aleppo region; it stated that five marriages of girls 15 or under took place in Aleppo’s rural northern area on a single evening. It added that activists in the region were blaming the authorities, and that they had called on them to launch initiatives and campaigns against the practice. [11] „Our Daughters – Entrusted To Us” may be a response to these calls.
The announcement for the campaign stated: „The unique general situation of Syrians today has had many consequences that have aggravated their suffering. Some of these consequences have become dangerous phenomena that must be addressed so that we may rid ourselves of them… One of these is the marriage of very young girls, with various justifications: poverty, the need for protection, alleviating the [economic] burden [on their families]… [Although] our religious scholars have permitted the marriage of underage girls with the approval of their custodians – their father or grandfather – other scholars amongst the leaders in the [Islamic] nation have a different opinion that prohibits this. We… are facing a bitter reality that requires a new approach… [Today], [these underage] wives bear alone the burden of caring for a family that can be borne only by an adult woman… Similarly, a woman has the right… to choose her life’s partner voluntarily and out of conviction…
„We appeal to every father, mother, and custodian, and anyone wishing to get married in our country… not to hasten to marry off these girls out of fear of poverty or out of greed… We call upon all our countrymen on whom Allah has bestowed a livelihood to help the poor, the orphans, the widows… and to protect them from causing harm to their daughters due to duress…” [12]
Abu-Mihyu Al-Kurdi, chairman of the Salah Al-Din neighborhood rebel council in Aleppo and one of the campaign’s organizers, explained why the campaign was necessary: „Many mothers prefer to marry off their daughters to free themselves from economic and social pressures, especially mothers who have become widowed. We are dealing with a phenomenon that is now spreading in Aleppo society…”
The campaign activity included circulating flyers and holding conferences led by psychologists and gynecologists. Al-Kurdi said that the campaign was aimed also at helping poor families economically. [13]
Announcement of the „Our Daughters – Entrusted To Us” campaign
Syrian Regime Attempts To Fight Marriage Of Underage Girls – But The Clerics Don’t Outlaw It
The war has also impacted the regions of Syria controlled by the regime. While there are not as many marriages of underage girls in these areas, the practice is nonetheless carried out, both among citizens who fled the embattled regions to come here and among the locals. There is no overwhelming opposition to it among Syrian government bodies, particularly among the regime-appointed Muslim clerics. Damascus chief qadi Mahmoud Al-Ma’arawi said that while normally the marriage of underage girls is undesirable, and in many cases ends in divorce, under current circumstances it is positive, since some fathers seek to prevent their daughters’ exploitation, particularly in areas of Rif-Damascus. [14]
In February 2014, Syria’s Justice Ministry held a workshop in Damascus at which it discussed the extent of the practice, especially in the refugee camps outside Syria, primarily in Turkey. It is possible that one objective of the conference was to criticize the government of Turkey, where many Syrian refugees have fled, due to the Syria-Turkey hostility since the beginning of the conflict in Syria. The workshop participants included Syrian Justice Minister Najm Hamad Al-Ahmad, Syrian Mufti Ahmad Badr Al-Din Hassoun, and Greek Orthodox Archbishop Luca Al-Khouri.
At the workshop, disagreements emerged over how to deal with the increase in marriage of underage girls. Minister Al-Ahmad said that it must begin with legislation geared towards gradually ending the practice; he added that a committee had been set up to identify clauses of laws that were discriminatory to women and that this committee would present its recommendations. Additionally, he said, the ministry was working on cases involving harm to Syrian women in refugee camps in Turkey, and would be filing lawsuits in the appropriate courts.
Muslim clerics, however, limited their disapproval to only those marriages of underage girls that take place outside the shari’a courts. Syria Mufti Ahmad Badr Al-Din Hassoun called for harsher penalties for anyone drawing up a marriage contract for an underage girl outside the shari’a courts. Dr. Muhammad Khair Al-Shaal, who is in charge of the family and child portfolio in the Syrian Ministry of Religious Endowments, said that the current circumstances do not require amendments to marriage laws, and called for appointing shari’a authorities to draw up marriage contracts in remote areas of the country in order to stem the rising tide of marriages of underage girls outside the shari’a courts. Additionally, Muhammad Hassan 'Awad, who heads the personal status department of the Islamic Law Faculty said that the guiding principle in marriage is the girl’s best interest, not her age, and that changing the age of consent would not stop the practice but would only push families seeking to marry off their underage daughters outside the shari’a courts. [15]
In December 2014, the Aleppo Health Ministry Administration, together with the Aleppo branch of the Revolutionary Youth Union of Syria, conducted a workshop on the risks that underage marriage poses to women and to society at large. The Aleppo mufti and women’s rights activists participated in the workshop. [16]
Activity Against Marriage Of Underage Girls In Kurdish-Controlled Regions
Women in regions controlled by Kurdish forces in northern Syria are overall better off than women in the rest of Syria. In November 2014, perhaps as a challenge to ISIS, the Kurdish self-government in the Al-Jazirah region of northeast Syria issued a 30-section women’s rights order that applied as well to Kurdish-controlled areas in northwest Syria; it called for „equality between men and women in all spheres of private and public life” and explicitly prohibited marriage for girls under 18. [17] The penalty for such a marriage is set at one to three years’ imprisonment for the girl’s custodian, for the party that conducted the marriage, and for the husband. [18]
Nevertheless, the phenomenon of child marriage in Kurdish society has grown, for economic, social, and security reasons, and Kurdish authorities are conducting information activities amongst the population to curb it. In April 2015, inspired by the „Child Not Wife” campaign, the Kurdish Youth Movement (TCK) launched a campaign called „No To Marriage Of Underage Girls” in northeast Syria. Demonstrations were held in the district’s Kurdish-controlled areas, and the directress of the movement’s Office of Women’s Affairs explained, „The campaign is a call to society, and especially to fathers, to oppose such marriages.” The campaign organizers also intend to operate in the refugee camps in Turkey and Iraq, where more than a half million Kurds reside. [19]
Demonstration in a town in the Al-Hasakah region of Syria (Source:Aranews.org, April 11, 2015)
On April 20, 2015, the youth and sports authority of 'Afrin, in the Aleppo governorate, held a conference on „Motherhood During Childhood,” with the participation of representatives of the Kurdish self-rule and clerics. The conference focused on the causes of the marriage of underage girls and on the practice’s negative impact on health, on families, and on society. [20]
Marriages Of Underage Boys
The number of marriages of underage boys to girls even younger than themselves is also growing, though not as quickly. A resident of the Idlib region said that in her village alone, 24 boys under 18 have married. The parents of these boys, and the boys themselves, attribute the growth of this practice to the following:
1. Economic: The tough economic situation has led many parents of girls to lower their demands for potential husbands for their daughters, in terms of both education and funds.
2. Religious: In many rebel-controlled regions, Islamic law, which encourages very early marriage, is in force.
3. Social: Society, which has suffered many casualties, is encouraging its children to marry and reproduce. The father of 16-year-old bridegroom Ibrahim, whose bride is 14, said: „Syria needs young people now. Bashar Al-Assad kills, and we are resisting and marrying and bringing children [into the world], so that life will continue.” [21]
* Dr. M. Terdiman is a Research Fellow at MEMRI.
Endnotes:
[1] Dp-news.com, December 7, 2010.
[2] See MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis No. 898, „Criticism In Arab World Over Exploitation
Of Syrian Refugee Girls For Purposes Of Marriage, November 12, 2012.
[3] Aksalser.com, December 11, 2014.
[4] All4syria.info, April 24, 2014.
[5] Aksalser.com, December 11, 2014.
[6] Ennabbaladi.org, February 12, 2015.
[7] Sawthur.com, March 6, 2015.
[8] Facebook.com/childnotwife/timeline?ref=page_internal, February 3, 2015.
[9] Facebook.com/childnotwife/timeline?ref=page_internal, February 3, 2015.
[10] Almodon.com, January 7, 2015.
[11] Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), April 12, 2015.
[12] Facebook.com/Council-of-Aleppo-rebels, June 8, 2015.
[13] Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), June 10, 2015; Ennabbaladi.org, June 14, 2015.
[14] Aliqtisadi.com.sy, September 19, 2013.
[15] Nesasy.org, February 1, 2014.
[16] Aleppo.moh.gov.st, December 24, 2014.
[17] Aina.org, November 14, 2014.
[18] Aranews.org, April 20, 2015.
[19] Aranews.org, April 11, 2015.
[20] Aranews.org, April 20, 2015.
[21] Al-Quds Al- Arabi (London), January 14, 2015; Hentah.com, February 14, 2015.
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