Campaigners hit out over Saudi child brides

MARRIAGE VIEWS: Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh.

Human rights campaigners are stepping up their fight to stop child marriages in Saudi Arabia.

The new call comes after the proposed marriage of an 11-year-old Riyadh boy to his 10-year-old cousin was halted after the local governor considered him too young to marry.

The case is among a recent spate of marriages involving the very young reported in the media and by human rights groups in the kingdom, Arab News reported on Thursday.

They have been widely denounced by activists, Islamic scholars and others who say such unions are harmful to the children and trivialize the institution of marriage.

The kingdom is already rocked by a high divorce rate that has jumped from 25 percent to 60 percent over the past 20 years, according to Noura Al-Shamlan, head of the research department at the Center of University Studies for Girls.

Zuhair Al-Harithy, board member of the Human Rights Commission told the paper: “These marriages violate international agreements the kingdom has signed.”

Al-Harithy’s group recently succeeded in delaying the consummation of the marriage of a 10-year-old girl after getting reports from medical centers in Hail that she and a man in his 60s had showed up for the mandatory prenuptial medical tests.

He said the commission wrote to the province’s governor and head of Islamic courts urging them to stop the marriage.

But there are other marriages involving children that have gone ahead.

There are no laws defining the minimum age for marriage. Although a woman’s consent is legally required, some marriage officials do not seek it.

But Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh recently said a guardian should not impose his will on his children or promise them to their cousins.

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