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[29 June 2011] - Noreen was 13 when she came home from school to be told that she was getting married. "I was scared, and sad I wouldn't be going to school anymore." A studious child, she wanted to become a teacher to bring 'glory' to her family. The jirga, a committee of tribal elders, in her village in Mirpur, Pakistan, had decided she should be given in marriage to settle a feud. Noreen's cousin had beaten his wife, who eventually ran away. The resulting hostility between the two families caused outbreaks of violence in the village. Noreen was the reparation. Within months, she was sent to England to live with her new husband, using documentation that falsified her age. In a clear case of tit-for-tat, she was repeatedly beaten, starved, and forced to sleep in the garden in winter. Noreen, now a slight woman of 17, describes the hopelessness she endured. "I knew that if I ran away the trouble would start again." When her husband turned her out without explanation, her parents made it clear that she should not return to Mirpur because of the dishonour attached to divorce. There was also a physical risk – her husband's family vowed to "finish her off" if she returned. Fifteen and pregnant, she received help from a women's centre. Noreen's horrific story is sadly not unique – every year, thousands of young girls are used as bargaining chips. Pakistan ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, which prohibits child marriages. The Muslim Family Law Ordinance sets a minimum age of 16 for girls and 18 for boys, and requires consent from both parties. However, neither law is enforced and child marriage continues unchecked. While statistics are inconclusive, the Population Council suggests that 37 per cent of women in Pakistan are married before they are 18. Many areas in rural Pakistan operate the jirga system of justice, whereby a council of elders from the community convene an informal court to settle disputes. These frequently suggest vani or swara, a custom in which girls from the offending male's family are married to the victim's family as reparation or penance. In 2002, the chief justice of Pakistan declared the practice to be un-Islamic and ordered that trial courts forbid the giving of women as compensation. Despite this, a recent report by Asia Child Rights suggests that it is actually on the rise. In the face of a chaotic and costly court system, jirgas at least provide immediate justice. "It is very common throughout the country," says Mustafa Qadri, Pakistan researcher at Amnesty International. "Younger girls are more desirable. Broadly, women are treated as property in Pakistan. "Poverty also contributes – people typically have large families and not much money. Marrying off a daughter is seen as a fair trade off as it reduces this financial burden." While vani/swara mostly takes place within Pakistan, cases such as Noreen's – where girls are sent to the UK – are not unusual. "In Pakistan it's easy to obtain forged documentation," says Qadri. "There is an idea that sending a girl abroad will make her life a lot better. Often these people are desperate, and not worldly or educated." While not every marriage under vani/swara results in domestic abuse, being traded leaves girls particularly vulnerable, and causes huge psychological trauma. "Women in this culture are never allowed to make decisions for themselves," says Shahrukh Husain, an intercultural psychotherapist. "They submit to their parents and then to their husbands and in-laws. "This is true of women of all ages, but young girls are more malleable and gullible, lack initiative of any kind, and have no idea of what constitutes an unfair demand in a domestic or sexual sense. They are essentially children and far less aware of such things as rights than the average western teenager, for example." The pressure of settling a dispute and preserving family honour is enormous. "The idea of running away is untenable – nor would they know where to run to," says Husain. Safiya was given in marriage to resolve a land dispute. Her parents moved to Lahore from rural Punjab and in their absence, allowed another family to farm the arable land they owned. When they hit financial hardship, they decided to move back – but the family occupying the land caused problems. It was agreed that Safiya, 14, would be given to secure the land's return. She was not beaten by her husband, but her studies were replaced with household duties for the entire family. Now 17, she has three children, and has had two miscarriages in between. During the second birth, her pelvic area was fractured, and the doctor warned that she should not have any more children as it posed a serious health risk. She also suffers from severe calcium and iron deficiency, but it is not within her power to prevent further pregnancies. When I speak to her, she is visibly pale. "It hurts me a lot," she says. "But what choice do I have? I wanted to make something of my life but at least this way I helped my parents." Early childbearing is the leading cause of death for girls aged 15 to 19 in developing countries, with mothers younger than 15 five times more likely to die in pregnancy than women in their twenties. Those who are sent abroad, like Noreen, do at least have some hope of recourse, justice, or access to advice. The thousands given as compensation each year in Pakistan are completely isolated. Friends and family are unwilling to offer refuge for fear of retribution, and the lack of education or employment opportunities means women cannot support themselves. Reform is hard to envisage. The Federal Sharia Court recently struck down a women's protection bill on the basis that it is un-Islamic. It is being appealed at the higher, secular courts, but given the dysfunctionality of the Pakistani state, this is likely to go the way of existing robust but unenforced laws on women's rights. The authorities view international intervention with suspicion and the drastically underfunded and undertrained police force lacks the will to uphold its own laws. "The moment the government starts functioning like a state, there will be a positive impact on women's rights," says Qadri. Until then, it is difficult to see the outlook for Pakistan's child brides improving. Further Information:
pdf: http://www.guardian.co.uk/journalismcompetition/brides-used-as-bargainin...