01-04-2025
Outrage in Somalia after man says he married missing eight-year-old
Outrage has spread in Somalia after an eight-year-old girl, who had been missing for six months, was found living with a man who said he was her girl was reported missing by her family in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland last later, it emerged the girl's father had consented for her to be married to an adult named Sheikh forces surrounded the man's house last week and forced they way in after he locked himself in a room with the girl.
The incident has sparked anger on social media and public protests in Somalia's capital, has also prompted fresh debates about child protection laws, as currently there is no minimum legal age for marriage."What's more shocking than the tragedy itself are the allegations of abduction and the fact that her family had no knowledge of her whereabouts for months," Fadumo Ahmed, chairperson of leading rights group the Somali Women Vision Organisation told the BBC."We trust the responsible institutions to take the right and necessary legal action."According to the eight-year-old's uncle, she was taken from her home in the city of Bosaso last September by a female relative. This relative said she was escorting the child on a trip to see another a months later, a video surfaced online, showing the girl reciting the Quran. Her family subsequently launched a search for the child - it is unclear why they did not do this discovered she was in the Carmo area, living with Sheikh Mahmoud. Sheikh Mahmoud initially said he was solely teaching the girl the Quran. But after legal complaints were filed, he changed his statement, saying he had married the girl with her father's asked by the BBC how he justified marrying an eight-year-old, Sheikh Mahmoud said that the traditions of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, along with that of the Shafi'i school of thought, allowed child the BBC questioned his reasoning - citing opposition from numerous Somali Islamic scholars - Sheikh Mahmoud maintained that he would not abandon the police and human rights authorities intervened on 25 March, removing the girl from the man's home after her family filed a complaint. The girl is now back with her family, Puntland's police force told the an investigation into the case has been launched, government officials have marriage remains prevalent in Somalia. According to a report published in 2020 by the United Nations Population Fund and the Somali government, 35% of women aged between 20 and 24 in the country were married before the age of 18. In 2017 this figure stood at 45%.The rate of child marriage is driven by various factors, including poverty, insecurity and traditional customs that often disregard a girl's age in wedding an attempt to tackle this issue, Somalia's ministry of women and human rights submitted a draft child rights bill to parliament in the proposal was sent back after MPs objected to certain provisions. The bill is expected to be reintroduced, but there is no clear timeline for this.
More Somalia stories from the BBC:
Risking death to smuggle alcohol past Somali bandits and Islamist fightersWhy Trump is on the warpath in SomaliaThe men in sarongs taking on al-Shabab militantsHow Somalis see the 'Black Hawk Down' battle three decades on
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