A 14-year-old Syrian refugee living in the Zaatari camp has decided to take a stand against the phenomenon of child brides. Here is her story, on the occasion of the International Day of the Girl Child.
Omaima Hoshan has been living with her family in the Zaatari refugee camp, in Jordan, since 2012. One day, her best friend, not yet thirteen years old, stopped coming to school because her family had given her in marriage to an 18-year-old cousin. From that moment on, Hoshan began to notice how many of her peers were being forced to face the same fate, one marked by abuse and abandonment.
Back home, Hoshan confided to her father the profound sense of injustice stirring inside her. She wanted — she had — to do something. Encouraged by her father, she began talking to her peers, urging them to raise the subject with their own parents. But she did not stop there: with the support of NGOs committed to combating the phenomenon, she organised workshops and awareness sessions on the risks associated with child marriage. During her workshops, Omaima Hoshan aims to spread awareness of the medical and social consequences of this phenomenon: higher rates of maternal mortality and pregnancy complications due to the physical immaturity of young girls, alongside higher rates of domestic violence, school dropout and social marginalisation.
The legal age for marriage in Jordan is 18, as established by the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, ratified in 1992. However, in specific circumstances, a judge may decide to authorise the marriage of minors. Although "only" 8 per cent of Jordanian girls are given in marriage before the age of 18 (according to Unicef data), the phenomenon is dramatically increasing among young Syrian refugees hosted in the country (+20 per cent since 2011). The reasons behind this figure relate above all to families' attempts to alleviate their condition of extreme poverty: giving daughters in marriage means, for parents, lightening the economic burden while also protecting the girls from the risk of sexual abuse, harassment and other forms of violence linked to the vulnerable and precarious conditions of the refugee population.
"When I see young refugee girls from the Zaatari camp getting married below the legal age, I am frightened. The girls of my country have lost their future — it has been destroyed. It is something I cannot accept." (Omaima Hoshan)
Omaima would also like to get married one day, but on her own terms: "It will happen after I have finished studying and gone to university," she tells the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), "I hope that by that day I will no longer be living in Zaatari." To help Omaima realise her dream, Terre des Hommes Italia and numerous other international NGOs have joined forces in the coalition Girls not brides, a global movement in support of ending child marriage. On 11 October, on the occasion of the International Day of the Girl Child, Terre des Hommes Italia is launching the #Indifesa campaign, to protect girls and young women around the world and guarantee them a future free from every form of abuse.