(WNN/EQ) Amman, JORDAN, WESTERN ASIA: The Human Rights Ministry of Yemen has confirmed that one of its officials has helped to prevent the wedding of a 12-year-old girl, which was due to take place earlier this month. Hiba was to be married in Taiz, Southern Yemen, but the official notified local police who ensured an immediate divorce. There […]

Yle has learned that girls from immigrant families at a school in Western Finland have been sent abroad into forced marriages. Teachers say they are aware of the situation but are unable to do anything about it. “I’ve encountered situations where marriages have already been arranged for girls who’ve come here from elsewhere. Some of […]

Saudi woman elopes, seeks asylum in Yemen Her outraged family alleges that her lover cast a magic spell and kidnapped her   Sana’a: A Saudi woman who fled her home last month to seek asylum in Yemen said that she would rather die than be forced to return home and marry a man she did […]

Kabul — The UN mission in Afghanistan on Sunday criticised authorities for poor implementation of a landmark law to protect women, 12 years after the repressive Taliban regime was ousted from power. Donor nations, led by the US, point to the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) law as a prized symbol of the success […]

A man who allegedly killed his wife by smothering her to death with a pillow was arrested by police in Yeshwantpur late on Saturday night.  According to investigating officers, the arrested, Gangaraju, 22, tried to pass off the death as a suicide. Employed as an electrician on a contract basis at the Indian Space Research […]

MUZAFFARABAD, 18 November 2013 (IRIN) – From a distance, Jalila Ahmed* and Nabila Ahmed* look like ordinary village girls in their late teens, shopping at the local bazaar in a suburb of Mirpur, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. But move in a little closer, and the differences are more obvious: they struggle to communicate with the vendors, […]

Forced to marry the man who had raped her, a 16-year-old Moroccan girl committed suicide last month. She had been raped by another minor in the northern port city of Tetouan. As Abdel Ali El-Allawi, director of the local chapter of an international NGO, the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH),  said to Al Jazeera, the rapist was first put into prison but […]

Last week, Yle reported claims that some immigrant families in Western Finland were sending their underage daughters abroad for forced marriages. Islamic scholars say such cases are not about religion and girls should have more information about their rights.   Attendees at the weekend Islam Expo in Helsinki were clear about Islam forbidding forced marriages. […]

Today, on the 32nd International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill reaches the Committee stage of the House of Lords. The Bill introduces a raft of measures covering matters as diverse as dangerous dogs, extradition proceedings, firearms and, tucked away in Part 10, forced marriage. Forced […]