Gulf | Yemen
UN says Yemeni child bride's death is tragedy
The head of the UN children's agency said that the death of a 12-year-old Yemeni after three days in labour underscores the urgent need to better protect the rights of girls and prevent child marriages.
- Agencies
- Published: 09:18 September 15, 2009
United Nations: The head of the UN children's agency said that the death of a 12-year-old Yemeni after three days in labour underscores the urgent need to better protect the rights of girls and prevent child marriages.
Fawziya Abdullah Youssef died of severe bleeding on Friday while giving birth to a stillborn child in the Al Zahra district hospital of Hodeida province, west of Sana'a.
Youssef was only 11 when her father married her to a 24-year-old man who works as a farmer in Saudi Arabia, said Ahmad Al Quraishi, chairman of the Siyaj rights group.
"Child marriage denies girls of their childhood, deprives them of an education and robs them of their innocence," Unicef Executive Director Ann Veneman said on Monday.
Child marriages are widespread in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, where tribal customs dominate society.
More than a quarter of the country's females marry before age 15, according to a recent report by the Social Affairs Ministry.
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Girls who give birth before the age of 15 are five times more likely to die in childbirth than women in their 20s, she said.
"Tragedies like these underscore the urgent need to better protect the rights of women and children, particularly girls," Veneman said.
"Child marriages are often a result of poverty and ignorance. More must be done to address the underlying causes in order to prevent tragic deaths like those of 12-year-old Fawziya and her baby," Veneman said.
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