Kabul (SW): Officials at the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) have said that in comparison to the previous years, there has been an alarming 10% increase in child marriages in the country.
AIHRC officials have said that as many as 235 such cases have been registered in the reported period of the year 2015. Speaking at a press conference here on Sunday, Seema Samar, the head of AIHRC said that the exact number of early marriages is far higher than what has been registered at the AIHRC.
Samar stated that children’s rights have constantly been violated by families, and forced marriage is just one of these violations. She said that the number of early marriages has always been higher in under developed countries compared to the developed world. She went on to say that forced marriages are chronic problem, which mainly occurs due to illiteracy and poverty.
She added that forced marriages can also result in eloping and suicides among the youth.
In the meantime, Abdul Rahman Hotaki, a member at the AIHRC stated that forced marriage is prohibited in Islam, and families only nod to it for their personal benefits. The AIHRC officials said that the Law on Elimination of Violence against Women cannot alone stop violence against women, and the government has to do to more to improve it.
ENDS
